182 



quiU black on the upper two-thirds ; shafts pure white : bill rich 

 coral-red, with more or loss of a blackish band in front of the 

 angle ; tarsi and toes red. Total length 15-5 inches, culmcu 1*8, 

 wing 11-6 to 12, tail 5, tarsus 1-9, middle toe with claw 1-65. 



The sexes are alike in plumage ; the males may be a trifle larger 

 than the females, and have more robust bills. 



Adidt in winter. Like the above, except that the head is white, 

 streaked with ash and dull black, especially about the eye and the 

 car-coverts ; the colours of the bill, ifec. duller. 



w 



1 2 



Larus melanoceplMlug, juv. 



luiniattire. Similar, the hood being perfectly black in the spring 

 and summer preceding the mature plumage above dcscrilied, and the 

 only difference being in the pattern of the quills. All of these are 

 white to palest grey on the greater part of their inner webs, and 

 entirely so in the two outer pairs, but both of the latter quills have 

 some black on the outer webs, while on the 3rd and 4th the black 

 crosses both webs subterminally. 



In the previous year (as I believe) the head is also black ; the 

 portion of the inner webs next the shafts is also black in the three 

 outer quills, the black spreading out into a transverse bar, except 

 on the 1st, where the white breaks through; the 4th and 5th are 

 also barred, and all have broad white tips. This dark colour appears 

 to fade gradually out of the feather — earliest on the inner webs — 

 (as it docs in other species), to judge from a specimen obtained at 



