15. LAUUS. 



21< 



iris white ; bill red, brownish at the tip ; tarsi and toes red. Total 

 length 17 inches, culnien 1-i), wing 13, tail 5-7, tarsus 1*9, middle 

 toe with claw 1"7. 



Adult female. Like the male, but smaller. 



Aihdt hi ivinter plumarje. Like the above, but without the hood ; 

 the occiput and auriculars mottled with dusky grey. 



Youiuj. Similar to the young of L. ridilmndus, except as regards 

 the primaries, which are chiefly sooty brown, with white on the 

 basal portion, increasing successively from the 4th inwards : bill, 

 tarsi, and toes dull reddish or ochraccous : " iris hazel " {Le<j(jc). 



t 2 3 



Larus brunnciccphalus, ad. 



IniDHiturc. I am not acquainted with any well-defined stage. With 

 increasing age the brown mottlings on the wings of the young 

 gradually disappear, the band on the tail narrows, and the white at 

 the base of the primaries gradually increases until moulting-timc 

 arrives ; but I have never seen a specimen with any brown on the 

 wiug-coverts accompanied by incipient mirrors on the 1st and 

 t^nd quills. All I can say is that some adults have rather smaller 

 mirrors than others. 



Ilab. Highlands of Central Asia, from Turkestan to Tibet and 

 Mongolia (breeding) ; in winter, as far west as Aden, along the 

 intervening coast to India, and throughout the greater i)art of that 

 country, Ceylon, Burma and Tenasserim. Xever found on the 

 coast of China, nor even beyond the Upper Hoaug-ho valley. 



