BIRDS — LARIDAE XEMA SABINII. 
857 
Sp. Ch.— " Color. Scapulars, interscapulars, and both surfaces of the wings, clear pearl gray ; outer web of the first quill 
bluckish brown to its tip, which is gray ; tips of the scapulars and lesser quills whitish ; some small feathers near the eye and a 
cellar round the middle of the neck pitch black ; rest of the plumage white. The neck above and the whole under plumage 
deeply tinged with peach-blossom red in recent specimens. Bill black ; its rictus and the edges of the eyelids reddish orange. 
Legs and feet vermilion red ; nails blackish." 
"Length, 14 inches; wing, lOg ; tail, 5| ; bill, I ; tarsus, 1.1-12." 
Described as above in the Fauna Boreala- Americana. 
Hab. — Arctic seas. 
No specimens are in the collection. 
ORE AGRUS, Bonaparte. 
Creagrus, Bon. 1854. 
Ch. — Bill strong and much curved ; tail strong and very deeply forked. 
But one species in this genus, from the coast of California ; it is remarkable for its deeply 
forked tail, an unusual form among the gulls. 
CREAGRUS FURCATUS, Nehoux. 
The Swnllow-liiilcd Gull. 
Mouette a queue fourcliue, Neboux, Rev. Zool. 1840, 290. 
Lams fur cuius, Neb. Voy. Venus, Zool. pi. x. 
Creagrus furcalus, Bruch, Cab. Jour. 1855, 292. 
Sp. Ch. — Adult. Head and nearly all of the neck grayish brown ; two small rounded white spots, embracing symmetrically 
the base of the upper mandible ; mantle grayish white ; breast, abdomen, and under wing coverts, white ; wings extend beyond 
the tail ; primaries black on their outer and inner edges ; the smaller wing coverts white ; the greater slate color bordered with 
white ; tail very much forked and white ; the two outer tail feathers much longer than is usual in this class of birds ; bill very 
much bent, black at the base and white at the extremity ; iris red ; eyelids orange ; tarsi and feet red ; claws black. 
Total length, 60 centimetres. 
Hab. — California 
No specimen in the collection. 
XEMA, Leach. 
Xema, Leach, Linn. Trans. XII, 1818. 
Ch. — Bill short, rather slender and compressed ; upper mandible straight at the base, curved at the end ; nostrils lateral and 
linear; wings lengthened and pointed ; tail forked ; tarsi rather strong ; toes united by a full web ; hind toe short. 
This genus has but one species, which inhabits the Arctic regions, seldom coming far to the 
south. Small in size. 
XEMA SABINII, Sabine. 
The Foilc-tallcci (inli, 
Larus sabinii, J. Sabine, Lin. Trans. XII, 1818, 520 ; pi. xxix.— Rich. & Sw. F. B. A. II, 1831, 428 — Nmtt. Man. 
II, 1834, 29G. — Acd . Birds Am. VII, 1844, 127; pi. ccccxh. 
Xema sabinii, Bruch, Cab. Jour. 1855, 292. 
Sp. Ch.— Mult. Head and upper part of neck blackish gray, terminated below by a ring of deep black; the rest of the 
neck, under plumage, the upper tail coverts, and the tail, pure white ; the back and upper surface of the wings bluish gray ; the 
edge of the wing from the flexure black; the first five primaries black, with their tips white; secondaries lamely tipped with 
white; bill black at base for more than half its length, then yellow to the point. ; interior and angles of the month and edges of 
eyelids vermilion ; feet black. 
Length, 13| inches; wing, 11; tail, 5; bill, 1; tarsus, 1.4-12. 
Hab. — Nova Scotia, northward; Arctic seas. 
There are no specimens in the collection. 
August 27, 1858. 
108 b 
