420 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. 



[185.] 5. Larus canus. (Linn.) Mew, or Common Gull. 



Genus, Larus, Linn. 



Mouette a pieds bleus {Larus canus). Temm., ii., p. 77L 



Ch. Sp. Larus canus, rostro valde compresso abbreviate, tarso bi-unciali, alls caudam superantibus ; remigibus 

 cum rachidibus apicem versus nigrescentibus s spatio albo duorum exteriorum magno. 



Sp. Ch. Mew Gull, with a short, considerably compressed bill ; tarsus two inches long ; wings longer than the tail ; 

 the quills and their shafts blackish towards the ends ; a large white space on the two first. 



This Gull breeds in Arctic America, and retires to the southward when the 

 winter sets in. Our specimen, in full breeding plumage, agrees in colour with 

 a mature British L. canus; but its size is rather greater, and the bill somewhat 

 longer and more decidedly arched at the point. These differences are, probably, 

 to be attributed to its greater age, and can scarcely be considered as denoting a 

 specific distinction. 



DESCRIPTION 

 Of a male, killed at Great Bear Lake, June 1, 182C. 



Colour. — Mantle and wings pearl-grey; the first six quills pitch-black towards their ends; 

 that colour extending to the base of the first, but forming merely a narrow bar on the sixth : 

 the first and second have a long white space (more than an inch and a half in length) near 

 their tips ; the others, the lesser quills, and scapulars, are conspicuously terminated with 

 white. Shafts of the two or three exterior quills pitch-black. Head, neck, shoulders, rump, 

 tail, and whole under plumage, white. Bill wax-yellow, tipped with gamboge. Legs 

 blackish-grey, blotched with yelloAV on the webs. 



Form. — Bill considerably compressed. Wings two inches longer than the tail. Thighs 

 an inch bare. 



Dimensions. 



Inch. Lin. Inch. Lin. Inch. Lin. 



Length, total . . 19 Length of bill to rictus . 2 2§ Length of middle nail . 4 



,, of tail ..59 ,, from nostrils to tip . 9 „ of inner toe . ] 2 



,, of wing . 14 „ of tarsus . .21 „ of hind toe . .0 2 



„ of bill above . . 1 4| „ of middle toe 1 7i » of h' n d nail • l£ 



— R. 



* Our bird does not correspond with the character given by the Prince of Musignano of his Larus canus (Syn., No. 

 296), '■ quills black at the point," though it agrees in the length of the tarsus and other marks. — R. 



