244 BRITISH BIRDS. [vol. vn. 



PLUMAGE OF THE GLAUCOUS GULL. 

 To the Editors of British Birds. 



Sirs, — The Glaucous Gull [Larus glaucus), as is generally known,, 

 after the first ash-brown plumage, becomes paler at each moult until 

 it is white, subsequently the adult plumage is attained in which the 

 mantle and the greater part of the wings are pearl-grey. 



In a bird of this species in my possession, shot in Shetland early 

 in 1913, the major portion of the plumage is that of the immature 

 bird, but most of the mantle is pearl-grey. This is an interesting 

 specimen, as the bird is evidently going straight from the ash-brown 

 plumage of immaturity to that of the adult, the white phase being 

 omitted. On the theory that the various plumages through which 

 a bird passes in its progress to maturity recapitulate ancestral stages 

 of plumage, in this case the intermediate stages of the recapitulation 

 have been suppressed. Eric B. Dutstlop. 



