295 



Larus Hutchinsii, Lawrence, Ann. Lye. Nat. Hist. New- York, 

 1866, p. 299, (1866). 



Larus Hutchinsii, Coues, Proc. Essex Instit. Vol. V, p. 306, 

 (1867). 



Larus Hutchinsii, Elliott, Birds of North Am. Part. XII, pl. 53, 

 2, (1868). 



Larus Hutchinsii, Coues, American- Naturalist, Vol. II, p. 162, 

 (1869). 



Larus Hutchinsii, G. R. Gray, Handlist of Gen. and Spee. of 

 Birds, Vol. III, p. 113, (1871). 



Total length about 675 mm (measurement tåken from the 

 moistened skin), wing 464—465, tail 180, middle toe 61 -f- 11, 

 hind toe 10, tarsus 71 ; from nostrils 29, gape 83, height of lower 

 mandible from the angle 10V 4 , height of closed bill above the 

 angle 18 7 2 , length from front edge of orbita to tip of bill 97 mm. 



Colour entirely white with a faint yellowish tinge, in particular 

 on the wing-shafts, which are yellowish white. Bill pale horn-brown; 

 feet lightish. When shot the feet were stateel to be light-red or 

 flesh-coloured, .the iris light-grey, almost white. Compared with v 

 the normal L. glaucus, the dimensions are smaller even than those 

 v of young of the year not yet in full plumage, particularly the 

 hind toev (10, adult 13) and the wing (464, ad. 475) ; besides, the 

 bill in this bird is much more slender than in any of the other 

 specimens of L. glaucus preserved in the University Museum. 



But these distinctive characteristics would seem merely to 

 indicate a further tendency to variation, both as regards size and 

 colour, in this highly varying species. 



Most of the European naturalists regard L. Hutchinsii as a 

 variety of L. glaucus; Elliott Coues, on the other hand, who has 

 had opportunities of examining a series of specimens in the Museums 

 of the United States, has come forward on more than one occasion 

 to maintain the right of this Larus to rank as a distinct species. 

 It seems this distinguished ornithologist would recognise the exis- 

 tence of „a large white gull, somewhat less in size than L. glau- 

 cus, entirely white, with the shafts of the remiges pale yellow, and 



