COMMON GULL. 
87 
Male; weight, about one pound; length, between one foot 
five and one foot six inches and a half; bill, pale yellow towards 
the tip, tinged with bluish or greyish green near the base; 
iris, dark brown, the edges of the eyelids are red. Head, crown, 
neck, and nape, white, in winter streaked with brown; chin, 
throat, and breast, white; back, fine pale bluish grey. 
The wings are three feet in extent; of the primaries the 
first two are black, with a pretty large white spot near the 
tips; the next four tipped with black. The following is Mr. 
Yarrell’s description of them: ‘primaries, black on the outer 
web, with a small portion of pearl grey at the base of the 
inner web, the proportion of grey increasing on each primary 
in succession; the first and second primaries with a patch of 
white on both webs near the end, but the extreme tips of 
both are black; the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth, have white 
tips.’ Secondaries and tertiaries, grey, largely tipped with 
white; greater and lesser under wing coverts, white. Tail, 
white; upper tail coverts, white. Legs and toes, dull greenish 
grey, with a tinge of dull yellowish red. 
The female is rather less in size; length, about one foot 
four and a half to one foot five inches. 
In the young bird for the first year the bill is blackish 
brown at the tip, the base dull yellowish red brown; iris, 
dusky brown, in front of the eyes is a patch of deep brown; 
the eyelids yellowish brown. Head on the sides, crown, and 
back, streaked with dusky greyish brown spots, the white 
through giving the bird a sort of ‘bien poudre’ appearance; 
in the second year the head and neck become white in spring 
and summer, but in the autumn and winter are streaked and 
spotted with greyish brown. Chin and throat, white; breast, 
greyish white marked or mottled with pale brown, chiefly 
in the form of a band across the upper part of the breast, 
and continued over the sides and flanks the first year, more 
white the second. Back on the upper part, in the first year, 
brownish grey, each feather being edged with greyish white; 
on the lower, white, bluish grey feathers gradually become 
interspersed. 
The wings, when closed, reach two inches and a half beyond 
the end of the tail; greater wing coverts, bluish grey, with 
a brownish grey bar, and ended with dull white; lesser wing 
coverts, bluish grey, some of the feathers with dusky centres 
and yellowish brown and white edges. Primaries, blackish 
grey on both the shafts and the greater part of the webs, 
