BIRDS LARIDAE RISSA. 
853 
opinion, must give place to that of Ord, cited above ; he also designates it as the " Banded-tail 
Tern." To determine what species was described under the above name (if it was not distinct) 
has long been considered a problem which it was very desirable to solve ; it agrees in every 
particular with specimens of the young of bonapartei, now under examination. Mr. Ord's 
description is as follows : 
" Beneath pure white ; above blue ash ; below the auriculars a patch of dark slate ; tail 
white, short, almost even, crossed by a dark brown band ; a line of brown from the shoulder of 
the wing to the tertials. Weight full five ounces." 
The slender and tern-like form of the bill probably induced Mr. Ord to put it in Sterna. 
Note by Dr. Sucldey. — "Abundant on Puget's Sound, in the neighborhood of which I obtained 
several specimens. This species is the only gull commonly eaten by the Nisqually Indians. I 
broiled one of these birds and found it about equal, in gastronomic cpualities, to the Eallus 
crepitans. ' ' 
List of specimens. 
Catal. 
No. 
Sex. 
Locality. 
When col- 
lected. 
Whence obtained. 
Orig'l 
No. 
Collected by— 
Length. 
Stretch 
Wing. 
Remarks. 
1 1 § 1 I 1 1 111 
Cab. G. N. Lawrence. 
991 

Nelson river, H. 15. T . . 
3 
32 
14.00 
32.00 
10.00 
Byes W'k, legs yellow. 
9 
139 
558 
13.00 
14.50 
14.00 
10.25 
Puget's Sound, W.T... 
Aug. — , 1856 
30.00 
10.00 
Q 
Sept. — , 1857 
Aug. 30, 1857 
T)r. Kennerlv 
rin 
Q 
12.00 
27.00 
9.50 
CHROICOCEPHALUS MINUTUS, Bruch. 
The Lit (U Gull. 
Larus minutus, Pallas, Reise, III, 702 — Bonap. Syn. 1628, No. 292.— Rich. & Sw. F. B. A. JI, 1831, 426.— Ncjtt. 
Man. II, 1834, 289. 
Chroicocephalus minutus, Brucii, Cab. Jour. 1855, 290. 
Sp. Cm. — Mult. Head and upper part of the neck black ; a white crescent behind the eyes ; part of the lower neck and 
under plumage roseate white ; rump and tail pure white ; back and wings of a pure and very pale bluish gray ; primaries and 
secondaries ash gray tipped with white ; bill deep lake red; iris dark brown; legs and feet carmine. Length, about lljg 
inches. 
Hab. — Arctic America? Europe. 
There is no specimen in the collection from North America, although a fine series from 
.Europe has been presented to the Smithsonian Institution by the Norwich Museum, England. 
RISSA, Leach. 
Pdssa, Leach, Steph. Gen. Zool. XIII, 1825, 180. Type Laws iridactylus, L. 
Ch. — Bill rather long, strong, and much compressed ; culmen straight at base, curved from the nostrils to the tip ; nostrils 
lateral and longitudinal ; wings long and pointed ; tail even ; tarsi rather short ; toes slender and united by a full web ; hind 
toe rudimentary or very small. 
