Plate CCCXXIV.
Bill slender, black; feet orange, tinged with vermilion; head and
upper part of neck all round greyish-black, that colour extending half
an inch lower on the throat than on the occiput; a white band divided
by a narrow black line margining the eye behind; lower part of neck
all round, anterior edge of wing, alular, smaller coverts on the
carpal margin, four outer primary coverts, shaft and inner web of
outer primary, both webs of second, inner webs of third and fourth,
rump, tail, and all the lower parts, white; back, scapulars, and wings
light greyish-blue; outer web of first quill, excepting a small
portion toward the end, its tips to the length of half an inch, black,
as are the ends of the next six, which however have a small tip of
white, the black on some of them being an inch long, and running along
the inner edge to a considerable extent. Female somewhat smaller,
similar to the male, but with the head and upper part of the neck
umber-brown. Young in second plumage with the bill greyish-black, the
feet flesh-coloured; head and neck greyish-white; a small patch of
black behind the eye; upper parts dull bluish-grey, many of the
wing-coverts greyish-brown, edged with paler; quills as in the adult;
rump and tail white, the latter with a broad band of black at the end,
the tips narrowly edged with whitish.
_Adult_, 14-1/8, 32-1/4.
Extremely abundant in winter, on the coast of Florida. Equally
plentiful in spring, along the coasts of the Middle and Eastern
Districts, especially in the Chesapeake. Breeds from the Bay of Fundy
to high latitudes. Not uncommon in autumn, on the Great Lakes, and the
Ohio and Mississippi.
Brown-masked Gull, Larus capistratus, Bonap. Amer. Orn. v. iv.
Female.
Larus capistratus, Bonap. Syn. p. 358.
Larus Bonapartii, Bonapartian Gull, Swains. & Rich. F. Bor.
Amer. v. ii. p. 425.
Bonapartian Gull, Nutt. Man. v. ii. p. 294.
Bonapartian Gull, Larus Bonapartii, Aud. Orn. Biog. v. iv. p.
212.