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Show 178 MR. H. SAUNDERS ON THE LARINJE. [Feb. 5, A specimen bearing the label of the Labrador Expedition of Dr. E. Coues and Mr. J. W . Dodge in 1860, obtained at Henley Harbour on the 21st August, and marked L. delawarensis, came into my hands indirectly from Mr. Krider, of Philadelphia. I have very little doubt as to its being really L. canus; but the American naturalists will have an opportunity of disputing or confirming m y view, as I have sent it to the Smithsonian Institution. Few species differ so much in individual size as L. canus; and I cannot admit the specific validity of the large race found throughout Northern Russia and Siberia. Off Japan all sizes are found ; and the colour of the mantle is also very variable, being lightest in Scotch breeding-birds. It appears to be a species which attains its greatest development in the north and east, and deteriorates in size as it ranges south and west. I have already pointed out that I consider I. niveus of Pallas to be really the earliest name of L. californicus, Lawr. 15. LARUS BRACHYRHYNCHUS, Rich. Larus canus, Richardson, F. Bor.-Am. ii. p. 420 (1831), nee Linn. nee auctt. (adult). Larus brachyrhynchus, Rich. F. Bor.-Am. ii. p. 421 (1831), juv. (nee Gould, P.Z. S. 1843), type described, Great Bear Lake, May 23rd, 1826 ; Coues, P. Ac. N. S. Philad. 1862, p. 302 ; Elliot, B. N. A m . ii. pl. 53; Dall & Bann. Tr. Ch. Ac. 1869, p. 305. Larus suckleyi, Lawr. Ann. Lye. New York, 1854, p. 264 ; id. B. N. Am. p. 847 (1858) ; Schl. M . P.-Bas, Lari, p. 27 (1863). Rissa septentrionalis, Lawr. Ann. Lye. N e w York, 1854, p. 266; id. B. N . A m . p. 854 (1858). Larus canus, var. brachyrhynchus, Coues, Key N. A m . B. p. 313 (1872); id. B. N . W . Am. p. 638 (1874). Hab. North-Pacific coast of America, from Sitka downwards, and the interior to Great Bear Lake. I can refer to no other species the specimens obtained by the late Mr. Hepburn at San Mateo, California, and one very old and fresh-moulted bird in the Copenhagen Museum from Sitka. They are certainly not L. delawarensis; and they are smaller than any L. canus in m y collection except one, a quite abnormally small female from Orkney. The bill is slender and weak ; and the foot with the middle toe and nail is nearly as long as the tarsus, which in L. canus is considerably longer. The bill is olive-green to mandible, in front of which it is yellow, the former colour being much more predominant than in old L. canus. There is much more grey from the base of the primaries downwards than in L. canus ; and on the third primary the wedge descends to the level of the tip of the fifth primary, whilst there is a broad subapical mirror on the third primary, which, again, is seldom, if ever, the case in L. canus; also the ends of the primaries are much more broadly tipped with white. So far, I think, I am in accord with Dr. Coues, who has had the advantage of examining Richardson's type, which, however, is a young bird ; but as regards the adult, of which he has seen far more |
