72 GULLS.

with white; rest of plumage white; tail sometimes mottled with dusky. Ad. in whiten—Similar to the above, but with the head and neck streaked with grayish. Ina—Head and nape whitish, streaked with grayish; back and wings, except primaries, brownish, the feathers margincd and irregularly marked with pale bufl'y ; primaries dark brownish black, the inner ones with small white tips; tail mottled with black and white; under parts whitish, more or less streaked or barred with grayish. L., 20'00; W., 18'50; T., 8'00; 8., 2-50. ~

Range—N orth Atlantic ; breeds in North America from the Bay of Fundy northward; migrates southward in winter regularly to the Great Lakes and Virginia, and less frequently to South Carolina.

Long Island, common W. V., Sept. to Apl.

Nest, of grasses, seaweed, etc., on the ground. Egg/s, two to three, clay- color, brownish ashy or bufly, rather evenly spotted with chocolate, 3'00 x 2'15.

A more northern species than the Herring Gull. Mr. Brewster, who observed it in numbers in the island of Anticosti in July, writes:

“ The Black-backs are exceedingly noisy birds, especially when their young are in danger, as well as toward evening. . . . I identified four distinct cries: a braying ha-ha-ha, a deep keow, Iceow, a short barking note, and a long-drawn groan, very loud and decidedly impressive. . . . At all times of the year, during the breeding season as well as in win- ter, it is by far the wariest bird that I have ever met.”

The SIBEBIAN Gun. (50. [Santa qflinifl—a large Gull inhabiting north- ern Asia—is sometimes found in Greenland.

51a. Lama argentatus Smithsonian” 007/68. AMERICAN HER- mNe GULL. Ad. in summer.—Back and wings deep pearl-gray; first primary tipped with white, then crossed by a small black mark, then a much larger White one; this is followed by a black space; the black runs down the outer web of the feather to near its base and the shaft part of the inner web nearly as far, leaving the inner two thirds of the web below the black mark white (Fig. 60, a) ; the second primary is similar, but the second white mark is a round spot on the inner web and the black occupies a greater space near the tip, but does not continue so far down on the feather; the third to sixth primaries are tipped with white, which is succeeded by a gradually diminA ishing black band which extends farther down on the outer web of the feather than on the inner; the rest of the plumage is pure white. Ad. in winter—— Similar to the above, but with the head and neck streaked or spotted with grayish. [rm—Upper parts ashy fuscous; head and nape more or less streaked with pale bufi‘y; back and wings margined or irregularly marked with the same color; primaries brownish black; tail the same, sometimes tipped or margined with bufl‘y; under parts ashy fuscous, sometimes lightly barred or streaked. L., 2400; W., 17'50; T., 7'50; 13., 2'30.

Range.—“ North America generally, breeding on the Atlantic coast from Maine northward” (A. 0. U.). In the interior breeds from Minnesota north— ward; wintcrs from Nova Scotia to Cuba.