462 LARID.E. 



From September to the beginning of April, while in their 

 winter-plumage, Faber says, they have grey spots on their 

 head and neck. 



Mr. Mitchell's young bird has the bill pale yellow at the 

 base, the anterior half horny black ; the irides dark brown ; 

 head and neck dull white, clouded with pale ash-brown ; the 

 back the same colour ; secondaries, tertials, and all the wing- 

 coverts dull white, marked transversely with pale brown 

 angular streaks; primaries white; tail coverts and tail-feathers 

 greyish-white, the latter marked across with broadish lines of 

 pale brown, which are more numerous about the base than 

 towards the end ; chin dull white ; neck, breast, belly, and 

 all the under surface of the body, dull white, streaked trans- 

 versely with pale brown ; legs yellowish-brown. 



The whole length of this specimen eighteen inches. From 

 the carpal joint to the end of the longest quill-feather fifteen 

 inches and a half ; the ends of the wings reaching two inches 

 beyond the tail. 



Faber mentions, that the young bird before becoming 

 matured in colour measures twenty inches and three-quarters 

 in length ; that the spots on the plumage are lost by degrees, 

 and in the fourth summer they have the same colour as the 

 old birds. 



