iS6 JOTTIXGS ABOUT BIRDS. 



that it is the exception not the rule for the immature 

 birds to Hock with the adults. The larger Gulls 

 are several years advancing to maturity, and do not 

 breed nor mix much with the old birds until they 

 have at least got rid of the brown plumage of their 

 youth. What is evidently a very young bird is 

 j)ortrayed in this picture, showing traces of adult 

 plumage on the mantle and scapulars, but these 

 feathers are among the last to change their colour 

 when the Gull has almost reached the fully adult 

 stage of its existence. We thus again see how want 

 of knowledge of the habits of the Gulls, and of their 

 various phases of plumage, have led the artist into 

 serious errors which mar an otherwise pleasing work. 

 Of all the admirable sea-pieces in the exhibition to 

 which these remarks more particularly refer, whether 

 of lofty rugged rocks, fiat sandy shores, or restless 

 sea in ever-changing mood of calm and storm, in 

 which Gulls have been introduced, not one artist 

 has depicted them correctly. In many of the works 

 I noticed the painter has had exceptionally good 

 opportunities for bringing in this graceful sea-bird 

 where its presence would have been an important 

 acquisition to the general effect of the scene por- 

 trayed. Where the birds were shown a few splashes 

 of black and white pigment, usually in the shape of 



