THE COMMON" AMERICAN GULL. 
markings of the younger and older birds. I am equally sure that no indi- 
viduals acquire the full beauty of the plumage before the third spring. 
The young are at first of a dull greenish-yellow, spotted with dark brown 
on the head and rump. In a very few days they leave the nest, ramble about 
in its vicinity, waiting the arrival of their parents with food, and conceal 
themselves under stones or in crevices at the appearance of danger. When 
a few weeks old, they do not hesitate, on being pursued, to betake them- 
selves to the water, where they swim with great lightness. When about the 
size of pigeons, they assume a brownish colour, each feather being broadly 
banded or tipped with light ferruginous and grey. At this season, the fisher- 
men of Labrador and Newfoundland kill them in great numbers, and pack 
them in salt for winter use. I was much surprised one morning while at 
Labrador, to see one of the barges of the Gulnare come alongside of the 
Ripley after a long cruise, when officers and men were glad to have a good 
mess of these- young Gulls in the bow of their boat, they having run short 
of provisions. 
Larus canus, Mew or Common Gull, Swains, and Rich. F. Bor. Amer., vol. ii. p. 420. 
Larus zonorhynchus, Ring-billed Mew-Gull, Ibid., p. 421. 
Larus brachyrhynchus, Short-billed Mew-Gull, Ibid., p. 422. 
Ring-billed Mew-Gull, Nutt. Man., vol. ii. p. 300. 
Common American Gull, Larus zonorhynchus , Aud. Orn.Biog., vol. iii. p. 98; vol. 
v. p. 638. 
Adult, 20, 48. 
Common during winter from Texas, along the coast, to Maine. Up the 
Mississippi to Natchez. Breeds from Maine to Labrador, Hudson’s Bay, 
and Arctic shores. Columbia river. Migratory. 
Adult Male in summer plumage. 
Bill shorter than the head, robust, nearly straight, compressed. Upper 
mandible with the dorsal line nearly straight at the base, arched and decli- 
nate towards the end, the ridge convex, the sides slightly convex, the edges 
sharp, inflected, arched, the tip rather obtuse. Nasal groove rather long and 
narrow; nostrils in its forepart, lateral, longitudinal, linear, wider anteriorly, 
open, and pervious. Lower mandible with a prominence at the end of the 
angle, which is long and narrow, the dorsal line then nearly straight and 
ascending, the sides convex, the edges sharp and inflected. 
Head rather large. Neck of moderate length. Body rather full. Wings 
long. Feet of moderate length,, rather slender ; tibia bare below ; tarsus 
somewhat compressed, covered before and behind with numerous broad 
scutella, the sides reticulated ; hind toe very small and elevated, the fore toes 
rather long and slender, the fourth longer than the second, the third longest, 
