APPENDIX 



63I 



graphed by S. West at Howard Air Force Base on November 19-20, 

 1974 (Ridgely, 1976, p. 103). The Ruff breeds in northern Eurasia 

 and winters in southern Europe, Africa, and southern Asia. It is a 

 rare but regular transient in eastern North America and on Barbados, 

 and there is also a record from Colombia.] 



Family LARIDAE: Gulls and Terns; Gaviotas y Gaviotines 



[LARUS BELCHERI Vigors: Band-tailed Gull, 

 Gaviota Colirrayada 



Larus Belcheri Vigors, 1829, Zool. Journ., 4, p. 358. (No locality given.) 



There are 3 sight reports of the Band-tailed Gull from the Pacific 

 coast of the Canal Zone and Panama City: a nonbreeding adult or sub- 

 adult at Panama Viejo on December 20, 1962 (Eisenmann ) ; 1 at Fort 

 Amador on May 10 and August 24, 1964 (W. Belton and H. Loftin, 

 photographed), and 1 at Albrook Air Force Base on December 2, 

 1967 (H. Loftin) (Ridgely, 1976, p. 110). No specimens have been 

 collected in Panama, so it cannot be determined if the birds are from 

 the nominate, Pacific population that breeds on the coast of Peru and 

 Chile, or the Argentine form atlanticus (Olrog, Acta Zoologica Lil- 

 loana, vol. 15, 1958, pp. 8-9), which may be a separate species.] 



[LARUS FUSCUS Linnaeus: Lesser Black-backed Gull, Gaviota Obscura 



Larus fuscus Linnaeus, 1758, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, 1, p. 136. (Europe, restricted type 

 locality, Sweden.) 



A Lesser Black-backed Gull believed to be of the race graellsii has 

 been seen and photographed at various times on the beaches of Panama 

 City, Province of Panama, from December 1979 to at least February 

 1982 (N. G. Smith, American Birds, vol. 36, 1982, p. 336). The bird 

 was first noted on December 1, 1979, by Paul Scharf. A peculiar dark 

 mark near the tip of the upper mandible has made it possible to identify 

 this individual when it has returned in successive Decembers. In 1981, 

 the bird remained as late as April 12; other years it evidently departed 

 earlier. The bird was usually found on the same area of beach at Ft. 

 Amador, often alone. Smith (op. cit.) discusses diagnostic field marks 

 possessed by the bird. 



The usual winter range of this Palearctic species is from Great 

 Britain to the Gulf of Guinea and East Africa. The Panama bird and 

 one from Guyana (Devillers, Le Gerfaut, 1979, pp. 79-80) are the 

 southernmost reports for the Western Hemisphere. In recent years 



