274 
ZOOLOGY. 
extent, and on the sixth it is reduced to a sub-terminal bar; the first quill is black at the end, above \vh''ch is a broad white 
band; the second quill is black to the tip, with a white spot on the inner web an inch and a half from the end; the <;ther 
primaries tipped with white ; secondaries and tertiaries ending in white ; iris yellow ; bill cropsed near the end with a 
blackish brown band, between which and the base it is greenish yellow; the tip is yellow ; tarsi and feet greenish yellow. 
Length, about 20 inches ; wing, 15 ; tail, 6 ; bill, I J ; depth at angle, i ; tarsus, 2 J. 
Young : On the upper plumage mottled with blackish brown and gray ; beneath grayish white, with light brown spots ; 
primaries black ; tail white, with a sub-terminal black band ; bill black, with the base yellow. 
Ilah. — Arctic America ; Texas to Labrador ; western rivers ; n.orthwest coast. 
The ring-billed gull is not uncommon on Puget Sound, wliere I obtained several specimens. 
It has been my rule, as far as possible, in this report, to confine myself, in treating of the various 
species of birds, to those which have been collected by me; and, after careful comparison with 
others in the Smithsonian collection, have been found strictly entitled (so far as yet known) to the 
specific name assigned to them. In the present instance, however, I feel justified in departing 
from the rule, as, although my own specimens were lost before reaching Washington, I, 
nevertheless, feel sufficient!}' certain that they were identical with the old Larus zonorJiynchus, 
the present species. This is verified by the presence of a specimen in the Smithsonian 
collection procured by Dr. Kennerly on Puget Sound, and also by a comparison of the notes 
taken by me on a couple of skins which agree, with the exception of the toothed bill, with the 
following description by Mr. Ord of the species which is quoted by Mr. Lawrence in the 
General Report: "Length, 19| inches; extent, 46; upper mandible with four indentations 
or blunt teeth; lower with three; corner of mouth and eyelids, bright vermilion; head, neck, 
tail, and beneath, pure white; wings, back, and scapulars, blue ash; weight, 19 ounces." 
My own specimen, (marked 478,) an adult, measured almost the same as the one described 
by Mr. Ord, being 19 inches in length and 4G.50 in extent. The legs and feet were of a 
gamboge yellow, with a slight greenish tinge; bill of the same color, with a black zone near 
the tip; margin of eyelids vermilioii; angle of moidli hrigld reddish orange. Another agreed in 
every respect except in dimensions, which were larger. 
This species seems to be subject to great changes in color of plumage, feet, and bill, at 
different ages. Its habits are not difi'erent on Puget Sound from those of its brethren on the 
eastern coast, and have been so well described by Nuttall and others that I can add scarcely 
anything. Near Fort Steilacoom they are very abundant during the cooler months, at which 
season they are very common on the marshes and flats at the mouths of the different rivers 
emptying into the sound. When an individual is wounded, his comrades, like other gulls, hover 
over and circle around the victim as if impelled by motives of curiosity or compassion. 
Frequently at this time the others can be readily brought down by the same gunner with his 
undischarged barrels, but the occasion must be quickly seized because the sympathizing birds, 
which at first are bewitched, as it were, by the accident to their companion, soon lose the 
charm, and, becoming more wary, enlarge their circles, and, ascending higher and higher, soon 
place themselves out of shot range. — S. 
LARUS SUCKLEYI, Lawrence. 
Siickley's Gull. 
Lants sucUeyi, Lawe. Ann Lyc. N. II. N. Y. VI, 1858, 2C4.— Baied & Lawkence, Gen. Eep. Birds, 847. 
Sr. Cii. — Adult : Head, neck, under plumage and tail, pure white ; back and wings clear pearl blue ; ends of the primaries 
black, occupyir.g about half the length of the first and decreasing to the seventh, on which it consists only of a sub-terminal 
