LARIDA. 581 
of marine insects, and probably small fish. Yarrell, 
still quoting Colonel Sabine, says they get their 
food on the sea-beach, standing near the water’s 
edge and picking up the marine insects that are cast 
on shore. 
The following description of the young bird is 
taken from a specimen shot some time ago at Tor- 
bay, and now in my collection: it is in the plumage 
in which the greater number of British-killed speci- 
mens have been found. The bill in my specimen has 
of course faded considerably, but as there is no bird- 
stuffer’s paint about it I can form a tolerable guess 
at the original colour, which seems to have been 
darkish horn towards the tip and yellowish brown at 
the base, and this agrees very nearly with the de- 
scription of a recently killed-specimen in the ‘ Zoolo- 
gist’ for 1867 (Second Series, p. 543), but not quite 
so well with that given by Mr. Blake- Knox, also of a 
recently killed specimen, in the same journal for 
1866 (p. 526), “bill thick for its length, dusky;” 
but the colour of the bills of all the Gulls varies 
very much as they advance in age, quite as much as 
the rest of the plumage. The forehead and the 
space between the bill and the eye white; the top of 
the head, nape, back, scapulars, wing-coverts and 
tertials dark grey, considerably darker than the usual 
grey of Gulls, and there is a dark, nearly black, 
streak near the margin of each feather, the margins 
themselves white; the tail-coverts white; the tail 
3D3 
