The Franklin Gull 
cohort in training; but if 
so, I could not discern his 
epaulets nor mark his 
shouted orders. 
The Short-billed Gull 
returns to Alaska in May, 
at which season, according 
to Mr. Nelson, its soft 
white plumage is shaded 
with a delicate rose-color. 
“It is a marsh-loving spe¬ 
cies, and is rarely found 
near the bold promontories 
and capes which delight 
the Kittiwakes. Frequent¬ 
ing all the flat marshy 
Taken in Washington Photo by the Author COUntry of the C03St and 
short-billed gulls in harbor interior, they are found 
nesting from the peninsula of Alaska north to the head of Kotzebue 
Sound, and from this sea-coast region they breed interiorly over Alaska 
and northern British America.” 
No. 279 
Franklin’s Gull 
A. O. U. No. 59. Chroicocephalus franklini (Swainson and Richardson). 
Description. —Adults in summer (sexes alike).—Head and upper portion of 
neck plain slate-blackish or dusky purplish gray, more slaty anteriorly; an elongated 
white spot on each eyelid; lower neck (all around), entire underparts, lower rump, 
and upper tail-coverts immaculate white, the neck and underparts more or less deeply 
suffused with eosine pink, especially in living or recently killed specimens; back, 
scapulars, wings, and upper part of rump uniform neutral gray, the tertials and second¬ 
aries broadly tipped with white; five outer primaries with a subterminal space of 
black, varying in extent from about 50 mm. on the second (from outside) to about 12.5 
mm. on the fifth, and tipped with white, these white tips varying in extent from about 
38 mm. on the outermost to less than 12 mm. on the rest, the gray of basal portion on 
all becoming white or nearly so distally, next to the black subterminal area, the shafts 
white except within the latter; remaining (proximal) primaries lighter gray, broadly, 
but not abruptly, tipped with white, the sixth (from outside) sometimes with a sub¬ 
terminal bar or spot of black; tail white, the four to six middle rectrices tinged with 
pale gray, especially the middle pair; bill deep red with a more or less distinct subter- 
1420 
