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 
blackish brown to it 3 tip, which is gray ; tips of the scapulars and lesser quills whitish ; some small feathers near the eye and a 
collar round the middle of the neck pitch black ; rest of the plumage while. 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, 10|; tail, 5*; bill, J; tarsus, 1.1-12.” 
Described as above in the Fauna Boreala-Americana. 
Hab. —Arctic seas. 
No specimens are in the collection. 
CREAGRUS, 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, Neboux. 
Tim Swallow-tailed Gull. 
J)Iouette a queue fourchue, Neboux, Rev. Zool. 1840, 290. 
Larus furcalus. Neb. Yoy. Yenus, Zool. pi. x. 
Creagrus furcatus, Brucii, 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 Foi'k-tailed Gull. 
Larus sabinii, J. Sabine, Lin. Trans. XII, 1818, 520 ; pi. xxix.—R ich. & Sw. F. B. A. II, 1831, 428.— Nutt. Man. 
II, 1834, 296.— Aud. Birds Am. VII, 1844, 127 ; pi. ccccxli. 
Xema sabinii, Brucii, Cab. Jour. 1855, 292. 
Sp. Ch.— Adult. 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 largely tipped with 
white; bill black at base for more than half its length, then yellow to the point; interior and angles of the mouth 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 
