LARIDZ. — . 609 
it; but, he further adds, they compensate for this 
mischief by feeding on worms and grubs, to obtain 
which they constantly follow the plough, like Black- 
headed Gulls. 
Like all the Gulls, the Herring Gulls go through 
a great variety of changes of plumage before coming 
to maturity, which they do not arrive at for some 
years: to refer again to my tame ones, they have not 
yet (January, 1869) acquired their full plumage, 
although they were caught in July, 1866. There is 
one peculiarity worth mentioning in these birds, that 
although they were all caught at the same time and 
place, and none of them were then able to fly, they 
have changed their plumage very differently, one of 
them being now, and always having been, since they 
first began to change, much in advance of the other 
two: whether this is to be attributed to their being 
in a state of domestication, or whether in a wild 
state there would have been the same difference, 
I am not certain; but if there would have been, I 
think it must be attributable to ditference of sex: 
what the sexes of mine are I do not at present 
know, but by their manners to each other I should 
’ 
say it was “two maids wooing a man;” if so the 
male is certainly a full year in advance of the other 
two. The young birds of the year have the bill 
black; irides dark brown; the plumage very much 
resembles that of the young of the Lesser Black- 
backed Gull. The first note I have of any material 
