SABINE GULL
62. Xema sabini. 14 in.
Tail slightly forked; bill small and black, tipped with yellow. Adults in summer.—Head with a slaty-gray hood, edged with a black ring around the neck; outer primaries black, with white tips, and edge of shoulder black; feet blackish; eye ring orange red. In winter, without the hood or collar, but the head is tinged with gray on the ears and nape. Young birds most nearly resemble those of the [Bonaparte Gull], but the primaries are blackish, and the tail slightly forked. This species is very abundant within the Arctic Circle, but is not as boreal as the last.
Nest.—In depressions in the ground, usually lined with grass; the three eggs are olive-brown, marked with deeper brown and black (1.75 × 1.25).
Range.—Breeds from northern Alaska and the islands about the mouth of Hudson Bay northwards; winters south on the Atlantic coast to Maine and rarely New York.
