A Synopsis of the Birds of North America

by John James Audubon

Bill stout, compressed, greenish-yellow, with a broad band of black opposite the prominence; wings two inches and a half longer than the tail; feet greenish-yellow; general colour of the plumage pure white, excepting the back and upper surface of the wings, which are light greyish-blue; the first-six quills black towards their extremities, the first and second being almost entirely so, the sixth with only a small spot; the tips of these feathers white, the first moreover with a long patch of white, over its whole breadth, the second with a smaller patch, not occupying the entire breadth, sometimes confined to the inner web, the other quills white at the end. Young after second moult with the bill black, the feet purplish-grey; general colour of plumage dull white, mottled with greyish-brown beneath, on the back with large brownish-black spots, the dark markings being central; anterior to the eye a crescent of greyish-black; outer primary quills black, terminally edged with white.

Adult, 20, 48.

Common during winter from Texas, along the coast, to Maine. Up the Mississippi to Natchez. Breeds from Maine to Labrador, Hudson's Bay, and Arctic shores. Columbia River. Migratory.

Larus canus, Mew or Common Gull, Rich. & Swains. F. Bor. Amer. v. ii. p. 420.

Larus zonorhynchus, Ring-billed Mew-Gull, Ibid. p. 421.

Larus brachyrhynchus, Short-billed Mew-Gull, Ibid. p. 422.

Ring-billed Mew-Gull, Nutt. Man. v. ii. p. 300.

Common American Gull, Larus zonorhynchus. Aud. Orn. Biog. v. iii. p. 98; v. v. p. 638.

449. 9. Larus leucopterus, Fabr. White-winged Silvery Gull.

Plate CCLXXXII. Adult and Young.

Bill stout, gamboge-yellow, with a spot of orange-red near the end of the lower mandible; angle of the mouth and edges of eyelids orange-red; feet pale flesh-colour; wings more than two inches longer than the tail; plumage pure white, excepting the back and upper surface of the wings, which are light greyish-blue; the tips of the secondaries, the terminal third of the primaries, and the upper tail-coverts, also white. Young in second plumage with the bill yellow, tipped with black, the feet yellowish flesh-colour; plumage yellowish-grey, marked on the head and neck with longitudinal streaks of pale brown, on the back and wings with transverse undulations, those on the tail much fainter; the first six quills destitute of markings.

Adult, 26, 50.

During winter from New York to Nova Scotia. Not rare. Breeds on the islands and peninsulas of the Arctic Seas.