OCR Text |
Show 524 MR. H. SAUNDERS ON LARIDA [June 6, mantle ashy brown, the tips of the feathers margined with white; upper wing-coverts and secondaries white ; primaries, 1-5 black with greater part of inner web white, 6 and 7 white barred with dusky, 8-10 pure white. Tail much forked, the outer feathers nearly white, the others banded with brown and tipped with white ; rump white slightly mottled with brown. Underparts white. Bill horn-black ; tarsi and feet livid brown. The bill is proportionately longer, slenderer, and more curved than in X. sabinii, from which it also differs in having a considerable bare space between the base of the feathers and the nares. The first primary which shows the slightest tip of white is the 5th, and there is less white at the tips of the upper ones than in the young of X. sabinii. The feathers are all quite fresh, and, reasoning from analogy, I should think that this example cannot have been more than three or four months old. Where, then, are the head-quarters of this mysterious Gull ? It would seem by this specimen that its breeding-time corresponds to that of the northern hemisphere, and that, like some other Gulls, it passes southwards to escape the northern winter; but as yet nothing is known. It is, however, somewhat remarkable that American naturalists who have devoted so much attention to the exploration of the coast of the Pacific, from Vancouver's Island down to Mexico, have discovered no trace of it; nor have repeated visits to the Galapagos produced more than the isolated adult specimen above noticed. Capt. Markham's valuable acquisition has now made us acquainted with the first plumage of this extremely rare bird ; and the proof of the existence of this long-lost species may be expected to awaken an interest which will probably in a few years lead to the discovery of its real habitat. XEMA SABINII (Sabine). Larus sabini, J. Sabine, Tr. Linn. Soc. xii. p. 520 (1818). Xema sabinii (Sabine), Saunders, P. Z. S. 1878, p. 209. [Nos. 70 & 71 (o* ?), Callao Bay, Dec. 1881. Eyes black.] Two specimens of this circumpolar species in the winter plumage of the second year : i. e. adult, but without the hood. In the primaries the white bottoms of the tips are so completely worn away as to give them the appearance of having been cut off squarely, showing that these flight-feathers are not renewed until January or February, as in the case of many of the Terns. The occurrence of this species at Callao, in 12° S., further increases our knowledge of its winter range on the Peruvian coast, the most southern locality hitherto recorded being Tumbez in about 8° S. (Scl. & Salv. P.*Z. S. 1878, p. 141), on the authority of Prof. Steere. On the Atlantic side this species has not yet been recorded as an autumn and winter visitant beyond the coast of France and the Bermudas. LARUS FRANKLINI, SW. & Rich. Larus /ran Mini, Sw. & Rich. F. Bor.-Am., Birds, p. 424 (1831) Scl. & Salv. P.Z. S. 1861, p. 577; Saund. op. cit. 1878, p. 195 [No. 11, no. 12 ( $ ), no. 13 (<-?)» no. 14 ( $ ), Coquimbo Bay, |