1/8 MR. H. SAUNDERS ON THE LARINjE. [Feb. 5, 



A specimen bearing the label of the Labrador Expedition of Dr. 

 E. Coues and Mr. J. W. Dodge in 1860, obtained at Henley Harbour 

 on the 21st August, and marked L. delawarensis, came into my 

 hands indirectly from Mr. Krider, of Philadelphia. I have very little 

 doubt as to its being really L. canus ; but the American naturalists 

 will have an opportunity of disputing or confirming my view, as I 

 have sent it to the Smithsonian Institution. 



Few species differ so much in individual size as L. canus ; and I 

 cannot admit the specific validity of the large race found throughout 

 Northern Russia and Siberia. Off Japan all sizes are found ; and the 

 colour of the mantle is also very variable, being lightest in Scotch 

 breeding- birds. It appears to be a species which attains its greatest 

 development in the north and east, and deteriorates in size as it 

 ranges south and west. I have already pointed out that I consider 

 L. niveus of Pallas to be really the earliest name of L. californicus, 

 Lawr. 



15. Larus brachyrhynchus, Rich. 



Larus canus, Richardson, F. Bor.-Am. ii. p. 420 (1831), nee Linn, 

 nee auctt. (adult). 



Larus brachyrhynchus, Rich. F. Bor.-Am. ii. p. 421 (1831), juv. 

 (nee Gould, P. Z. S. 1843), type described, Great Bear Lake, May 

 23rd, 1826 ; Coues, P. Ac. N. S. Philad. 1862, p. 302 ; Elliot, B. 

 N. Am. ii. pi. 53 ; Dall & Bann. Tr. Ch. Ac. 1869, p. 305. 



Larus suckleyi, Lawr. Ann. Lye. New York, 1854, p. 264 ; id. 

 B. N. Am. p. 847 (1858) ; Schl.M. P.-Bas, Lari, p. 27 (1863). 



Rissa septentrionalis, Lawr. Ann. Lye. New York, 1854, p. 266 ; 

 id. B. N.Am. p. 854 (1858). 



Larus canus, var. brachyrhynchus, Coues, Key N. Am. B. p. 313 

 (1872); id. B. N. W. Am. p. 638 (1874). 



Hub. North-Pacific coast of America, from Sitka downwards, and 

 the interior to Great Bear Lake. 



I can refer to no other species the specimens obtained by the late 

 Mr. Hepburn at San Mateo, California, and one very old and fresh- 

 moulted bird in the Copenhagen Museum from Sitka. They are 

 certainly not L. delawarensis ; and they are smaller than any L. canus 

 in my collection except one, a quite abnormally small female from 

 Orkney. The bill is slender and weak ; and the foot with the middle 

 toe and nail is nearly as long as the tarsus, which in L. canus is con- 

 siderably longer. The bill is olive-green to mandible, in front of 

 which it is yellow, the former colour being much more predominant 

 than in old L. canus. There is much more grey from the base of 

 the primaries downwards than in L. canus ; and on the third primarv 

 the wedge descends to the level of the tip of the fifth primary, whilst 

 there is a broad subapical mirror on the third primary, which, again, 

 is seldom, if ever, the case in L. canus ; also the ends of the prima- 

 ries are much more broadly tipped with white. 



So far, I think, I am in accord with Dr. Coues, who has had the 

 advantage of examining Richardson's type, which, however, is a 

 voung bird ; but as regards the adult, of which he has seen far more 



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