Mr. Sabine's Account of a new Species of Gull, ^c. 521 



of the mouth bright vermilion. The irides dark, surrounded by 

 a naked circle of the same colour as the inside of the mouth ; a 

 small white speck beneath the eye, scarcely perceptible. The 

 Avholc of the head and upper part of the neck a very dark ash- or 

 lead-colour; the remainder of the neck behind and before, as 

 well as the breast and belly, pure white; a narrow black collar 

 surrounds the neck at the meeting of the ash-colour and of the 

 white. 7'he back, scapulars and wing-coverts are ash-coloured, 

 very much lighter than the head, but darker than the corre- 

 sponding parts of the Larus ridibundus ; the lower ends of the 

 scapulars are tipped with white. The first five primary quill- 

 feathers with black shafts, the whole outer webs of these black, 

 the edge of their upper webs white to within an inch and a half 

 of the tips, the white sometimes continued to the tip; the tips of 

 the first and second of these quill-feathers in some white, in others 

 black; the tips of the third, fourth and fifth white, giving the 

 wing when closed a spotted appearance; the sixth primary quill- 

 feather with a white shaft, having the web more or less black, 

 but principally white, with sometimes a black spot near the end ; 

 the other primaries, the secondaries, and the tertials white; the 

 whole under parts of the wings white. The wings extend an inch 

 or more beyond the longest feather of the tail. The legs, feet, 

 and claws black ; the thigh feathered to within three-eighths of 

 an inch of the knee ; the length of the tarse one inch and a half; 

 the length of the front toes about one inch, the inner one the 

 shortest; the hinder toe small, and placed high. The tail with 

 its upper and under coverts white ; the tail-feathers twelve, the 

 outer narrower than the centre ones ; the outer tail-feathers about 

 five inches long, the others in succession gradually shortening, so 

 that the whole tail becomes forked by a diminution of nearly an 

 inch. 



This 



