On the Occarrence of the Bonapartian Gull in Europe. 193 
Tlie species is mentioned in the work referred to (p. 425) as 
common in all parts of the fur countries, where it associates 
with the Terns, and is distinguished by its peculiar shrill and 
plaintive cry/^ Mr. Audubon (Orn. Biog. vol. iv. p. 212, 1838) 
informs us, that he first met with the species in August when 
crossing the Ohio at Cincinnati, and subsequently shot a speci- 
men in November on the Mississippi, a few miles below the 
mouth of the Arkansas. In Chesapeake Bay after the first of 
April, and at the harbour of Passamoudy (Maine) in May, he saw 
them in great abundance : — at the latter place his son killed 
seventeen at one discharge of his double-barreled gun. It is 
added that none of them were observed on any part of the 
Gulf of St. Lawrence, or on the coast of Labrador or Newfound- 
land, and that in winter this species is common in the harbour 
of Charleston, but none are seen at that season near the mouths 
of the Mississippi.^^ This author subsequently found in Lon- 
don a pair of these birds * * * which had been brought from 
Greenland.” 
The dimensions of my specimen are : — 
in. lin. 
Length, total 13 9* 
Length of bill from forehead 1 1 
bill to rictus 1 9 
wing from carpal joint to end primaries 10 4 
tarsus 1 41 
middle toe 1 2i 
middle toe nail 0 2i 
of outer toe 1 li 
outer toe nail 0 2 
inner toe 0 11 
inner toe nail 0 2 
hind toe 0 2 
hind toe nail 0 1 
Tibia bare of feathers from tarsal joint 0 6 
Wings, pass the tail 1 9f 
Bill in form as described by Bichardson, excepting that at the 
base its depth exceeds its breadth. At the base of the upper 
* As measured by applying a piece of twine so as to touch each por- 
tion of the bird in a straight line from the point of the bill to the end of the 
tail. The bird being laid on a flat surface, the space which it occupied from 
the point of the bill to the end of the tail was 12 inches 6 lines. The length 
of three specimens given in the ‘ Faun. Bor. Amer.’ was from 15 in. to 
15 in. 6 lines. Looking to that work after my measurement was made, and 
too late for correction (the bird being skinned), 1 found that the neck is 
stretched when the length is taken, whereas in this and every similar case, 
1 have been particular that it should never be in the least stretched, but 
placed as it were in repose. Audubon describes the adult male as 14i inches 
and the “ young in December as 13-| inches." 
t The figure of the adult bird in the ‘ Faun. Bor. Amer.’ does not suffi- 
ciently exhibit the length of wings : — they are described in that work as 
passing the tail two inches. 
Ann. ^ Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 2. Vol. i. 
13 
