564 LARUS GLAUCUS. 



largely, mottled, paler, and Avith the tip white. The axil- 

 laries are but slightly marked ; the lower wing-coverts very 

 pale ash-grey, without any markings. 



This description is also from a skin presented by Dr. 

 Edmondston. 



Length to end of tail 27 inches ; wdng from flexure 18^ ; 

 tail 7^ ; bill along the ridge 2-^ ; tarsus 2f ; middle toe 2^, 

 its claw^ 1^. 



It appears that in the third winter the colours are nearly 

 completed. A bird in the state which may be presumed to be 

 this, and which was shot in the Firth of Forth, near Mussel- 

 burgh, in February, 1837, I examined in the recent state. 

 Its description is as follows : — 



Young in Third Winter. — The bill is yellowish flesh- 

 colour, with only a dusky spot on each mandible toward the 

 end ; iris dull grey ; the edges of the eyelids yellow ; the feet 

 flesh-colour ; the claws light greyish-black. The head and 

 neck are white, Avith pale brown streaks, which are large and 

 more distinct on the hind part of the neck, small and faint on 

 its fore part ; the rest of the lower parts white. The back and 

 wings are light bluish-grey, as in the adult ; the quills of a 

 paler tint, fading toward the end into white. The tail is 

 white, with numerous undulated lines of very pale brown. 



Length to end of tail 29 inches ; extent of wings 60 ; 

 wing from flexure 19-1- • tail 9 ; bill along the ridge 2^ ; 

 along the edge of lower mandible 3^ ; tarsus 2-^ ; first toe 

 -j^, its claw ^ ; second toe 1\%, it claw -j^ ; third toe 2^, 

 its claw -|-| ; fourth toe 2^, its claw -j^. 



Remarks. — In this species the bill is generally much 

 inferior in height to that of Larus marinus ; but individuals 

 occur in which it is equally large. I think, upon the Avhole, 

 that in bulk this bird exceeds that just mentioned ; and 

 Captain Sabine states that the largest individual of either 

 species that he met with was a male of Larus glaucus, killed 

 in Barrow's Strait, of Avhich the length was thirty-two 

 inches, the extent of Avings sixty-five, the tarsus three inches 

 and a half long, Avhile the bill, Avhich Avas prodigiovisly 



