Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!stretch.cs.mun.ca!leif!dgraham
From: dgraham@kean.ucs.mun.ca (David Graham)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Re: Yellow-legged Gull
Message-ID: <153511@kean.ucs.mun.ca>
Date: 9 Nov 90 11:35:47 GMT
References: <1360@sun13.scri.fsu.edu>
Organization: Memorial University. St.John's Nfld, Canada
Lines: 40

In article <1360@sun13.scri.fsu.edu>, sandee@sun16.scri.fsu.edu (Daan
Sandee) writes: 
> I heard a rumor that Yellow-legged Gull (L. (argentatus) cachinnans, I assume)
> has been split off from Herring Gull (L. argentatus) in Europe.

I hadn't heard anything recently about this, but it rang a bell with 
me, and sure enough, I see that Blondel & Isenmann (_Guide des oiseaux 
de Camargue_, Delachaux & Niestl'e, 1981), say the following (my 
translation):

"Go'eland leucoph'ee [Yellow-legged Gull, this would be] Larus 
cachinnans (Pallas) 

The Camargue breeding population belongs to the _cachinnans_ group 
which can reasonably assigned specific status in our view (Devillers, 
_Gerfaut_ 67, 1977 and --for their biometry-- Isenmann, _Vogelwarte_ 
27, 1973)." (p. 128)

As well, the 1984 French-language version of Peterson, Mountfort & 
Hollom's European Field Guide, _Guide des oiseaux d'Europe_ (Delachaux 
& Niestl'e), has L. cachinnans listed as a full species, though the
English name is given as "Yellow-legged Herring Gull", which is what I
remember calling it in France five years ago (except when I was
calling it 'another one of *them*') now that I think of it. The PMG
guide quite rightly says (IMHO) that (my translation again) "The L.
argentatus-cachinnans-fuscus group is complex, especially in the
immature plumages which are confusing. In the field, you should be
content to separate adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls from
(Yellow-legged) Herring Gulls!" (p. 122) 

PMG list both L. argentatus and L. cachinnans in one entry, despite 
giving full specific status to both.

> Daan Sandee                                           sandee@sun16.scri.fsu.edu
> Supercomputer Computations Research Institute
> Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306-4052  (904) 644-7045
-- 
***************************************************************************
   David Graham					dgraham@kean.ucs.mun.ca  
***************************************************************************