LAEUS BEACHYEHYNOHUS.
SHORT-B I L L GU L L .
LARUS CANUS1 Rich. Faun, Bor. Arner., Yol. I I . , p . 420.—N u tt. Man. Orn. Yol. I i ., p . 301.
LARUS SUCKLEYI. Lawk. Birds o f N. Am., p. 848.
RISSA SBPTENTRIONALIS. Lawk. Birds of N. Am., p. 854.
•LARUS BRACHYRHYNCHUS. Ricn. Faun. Bor. Amer., Vol. II., p. 422. juv. Codes. Mon. Lurid., Proc. Acad. Nat. Scien. (1862), p. 302.
The type of this species was. procured by Richardson on the 23d May, 1826, at Great Bear Lake in Arctic America, and described in
the Fauna Boreali Americana as quoted above. It was a young bird. The adult was mistaken by the same author for the European L.
Canus, and so characterized. Considerable confusion has existed in the synonymy of this bird, but it has been satisfactorily unravelled by
Dr. Coues in his Monograph of the Laridie, where such of my readers who may desire a more detailed account, will find the subject
fully treated.
Numerous specimens of this Gull were contained in the collections of Kennicott and Ross, and it doubtless is very abundant in the
districts it inhabits.
Mantle and wings pearl blue. Primaries bluish gray, which color, on the second, third, and fourth, extends further in the centre
towards the end than on the edges, so that the black o f the tip borders it for some distance. This black tip takes in the outer web
and most of the inner of the first primary, but becomes less and less on the others, until the seventh has merely a black spot, sometimes
only on one web. Between the black edges of the first primary; there is an oblong white spot about two inches in length. The second
has also a similar spot but smaller. The extreme tips of all the primaries, excepting the first, are white. Remainder of plumage
pure white. Bill blackish, yellow at tip. Tarsi and feet greenish yellow; webs yellowish.