-500 LESTRIS RICHARDSONII. 



are at first covered with long soft grey down, vary in tlie 

 colours of their plumage. 



On this subject we may again refer to Mr. Dunn, an 

 honest and experienced observer : — " There is a great variety 

 in the plumage of this bird, which in my belief does not 

 depend upon either age or sex. In fact, in several pairs which 

 I procured, it Avas impossible to tell from outward appearance 

 the sex to which each belonged ; and that this difference does 

 not depend upon age, is proved by the circumstance of my 

 having frequently taken the full-fledged young birds of a 

 dark-brown colour, the parents of which w^ere light-breasted, 

 and, on the contrary light-coloured young birds from dark- 

 coloured parents. The light-coloured birds, however, are not 

 so numerous as the dark ones. Difference of colour appears 

 to have no effect in their associating together in the breeding 

 season ; they mix indiscriminately. I have seen instances of 

 two of these birds pairing together, the one dark brown, the 

 other much lighter, with a white breast ; two both light 

 brown ; and again two both dark-brown." 



Dr. Edmondston has favoured me with the following 

 notes, which coincide with Mr. Dunn's remarks : — " Of all 

 birds I know this has the most rapid flight. It is a very bold, 

 familiar, and elegant bird. Its voice is similar to that of the 

 Hawk. It breeds on the heaths and produces two young, of 

 a brownish speckled colour, Avhicli Avere formerly decribed as 

 a distinct species under the name of Larus crepidatus. The 

 general colour is like that of a young Kestrel, to which in 

 habits and manners they are strikingly similar ; others are 

 hardly at all speckled, but, nearly like tlie adult, black ; and 

 this occurs in the same nest, and is not dependent on sex, 

 but occurs indifferently, so far as I can discover, whether the 

 ])arent birds be two white-breasted, two black, or one of each. 

 It is difficult to rear after two or three months old ; I suspect 

 because its organs of digestion are naturally capable of acting 

 Avith effect only on Avhat had previously been subjected to the 

 gastric juice of other birds. This is a curious fact in the 

 history of this species. It seems as dependent, especially on 

 the KittiAvake and Tern, for food, as the Cuckoo is on the 

 Hedge SparroAv and other birds for incubation, and it accord- 



