The Sabine Gull 
No. 282 
Sabine’s Gull 
A. O. U. No. 62. Xema sabini (Sabine). 
Synonym.— Fork-tailed Gull. 
Description. — Adult in summer: Head and neck all around plumbeous-slate, 
bordered posteriorly with black; mantle dark pearl-gray; upper border of wing black; 
exposed primaries chiefly black, the inner ones changing to white marked with plum¬ 
beous, the first six with white tips and increasing white on the inner webs; remaining 
plumage, including slightly forked tail, white. Bill black, tipped with yellow; legs 
and feet black; eyelids orange. Adult in winter: Similar, but slaty color of head and 
neck reduced to ear-coverts*and nuchal region; rest of head and neck white. Young: 
Above, including most of head and mantle, grayish brown, each feather darkening 
distally and tipped with buffy; tail white, with a broad blackish subterminal band; 
forehead, lores, upper tail-coverts, and underparts white. Emargination of tail about 
1.25; that of young not much less (Coues). Length 330.2-355.6 (13.00-14.00). Aver¬ 
age of 10 Monterey specimens: length (skins) 336.2 (13.24); wing 282.9 (n.14); tail 
119 (4.69); bill 26.3 (1.035); depth at angle 7.5 (.295); tarsus 35.2 (1.386). 
Recognition Marks. —Little hawk size. Black of wings and slate of head and 
neck more extensive than in C. Philadelphia; bill black with yellow tip; tail slightly 
forked; the black ring bordering the slate of head and upper neck all around is also 
distinctive. 
Nesting. —Does not breed in California. Nest: A depression in tundra moss, 
sand-beach, or bare earth. Eggs: 2 or 3; buffy olive, marked with brownish olive 
and sepia. Av. size 43.7 x 30.5 (1.72 x 1.20). Season: June—July. 
General Range. —The Arctic regions south irregularly to the coast of Peru. 
Breeds in the Yukon delta, on St. Lawrence Island, along the coast of Mackenzie, and 
locally on several islands of the American Arctic, and along the west coast of Greenland; 
also in Siberia at least upon the Taimyr Peninsula. From these centers of dispersion 
the birds visit other Arctic and sub-Arctic regions at the close of the breeding season, 
and straggle southward. Migrates chiefly well off shore along the Pacific Coast of 
America to Cape San Lucas, thence directly (?) to Peru. Occurs irregularly during 
migrations over the greater part of the United States to the Texas coast. 
Occurrence in California. —Apparently a regular spring and fall migrant on 
the ocean. Usually keeps well off shore, but occasionally straggles to land (Santa 
Barbara, Aug. 25, 1915; El Cajon, Oct. 10, 1920), and has occurred far inland (Mono 
Lake, Sept. 1901, Fisher). 
Authorities. — W. E. Bryant ( Xema sabinii ), Zoe, vol. iii., 1892, p. 165 (San 
Francisco Bay); W. K. Fisher , Condor, vol. iv., 1902, p. 10 (Mono Lake); Beck, Proc. 
Calif. Acad. Sci., ser. 4, vol. iii., 1910, p. 63 (Monterey Bay). 
THE OFF-SHORE life of California is a sealed book to most of us. 
Something of its rich and varied interest has been hinted by the investiga¬ 
tions of Leverett M. Foomis and of Rollo H. Beck near Monterey. Now 
and then a fortunate yachtsman, like Howard Wright of Pasadena, teases 
our imagination by reports of Sabine Gulls and other rarities seen on the 
H33 
