GLAUCOUS GULL. 77 



broken bars of pale brown ; the secondaries white at the ends 

 and mottled with brown like the back; the primaries isabelline, 

 ashy-white on the inner webs, and with slight remains of brown 

 markings at the ends; upper and under tail-coverts white, 

 distinctly mottled with brown ; the tail-feathers ashy-brown, 

 mottled on the edges with white ; crown of head ashy-brown, 

 slightly darker than the mantle, and streaked like the side of 

 the face ; under surface of the body ashy-brown, the throat 

 whiter, streaked with ashy ; under tail-coverts white, barred 

 with light ashy-brown ; the under wing-coverts and axillaries 

 ashy-brown like the breast ; bill ochre-yellow to the angle, then 

 blackish to the tip ; tarsi and toes brownish. 



Mr. Saunders says that, after the moult of the next year, both 

 the upper and under surfaces are much lighter, and pale grey 

 feathers begin to show on the mantle, the outer primaries being 

 all but white. In immature birds the mottlings of the upper 

 surface gradually disappear, and for a short time the bird 

 appears to be creamy w^iite (in which phase of plumage it has 

 received the name of L. hntchiiisi). At the subsequent moult 

 the pearl-grey mantle is assumed, but the new tail-feathers 

 show some faint brownish mottlings until the next year. 



Nestling-. — Of a stone-grey colour, slightly tinged with yellow- 

 ish-buff below ; the back mottled with ashy-brown, and the 

 head spotted with black. 



Characters. — The Glaucous Gull is distinguished by its large 

 size, white head and tail, and especially by its white quills, 

 with a faint shade of grey at the base. Only two Gulls of the 

 white-winged group answer to this latter character, the Glaucous 

 Gull and the Iceland Gull. 



Range in Great Britain. — This is an Arctic species, which visits 

 us in winter only, and is then chiefly noticed in the northern 

 parts of the British Islands. It is a more or less regular 

 visitor, sometimes occurring in numbers, but less often on the 

 west and south coasts ; young birds predominating. 



Range outside tlie British Islands. — A circumpolar species dur- 

 ing the breeding season, wandering southwards in winter to 

 the Mediterranean, Black and Caspian Seas ; also recorded 

 from Japan. In America it visits the Great Lakes, and reaches 

 to Bermuda and Florida, and on the west coast of California 



