94 
LESSEE BLACK-BACKED GULL. 
and reach two inches beyond the end of the tail. Greater 
and lesser wing coverts, dark slate grey; primaries, dark slate 
grey, the six first tipped with white, namely, the first with 
a broad bar, and the extreme tip white, the others with only 
the tips white, in a triangular form. Secondaries, dark slate 
grey, the ends white; tertiaries, dark slate grey, the tips of 
some of them white. Greater and lesser under wing coverts, 
white. Tail, white; upper and under tail coverts, white. 
Legs and toes, yellow; claws, dusky. 
The young are at first covered with down of a grey and 
brown colour, and become full-fledged in a month or five weeks. 
When a year old the bill is dark horn-colour, the base pale 
brown; iris, dark brown, a dark spot before the eye. Head, 
crown, neck, and nape, white, streaked with dusky brown; 
chin and throat, white; breast, white, mottled with dusky 
brown; back, greyish brown, the shaft of each feather deep 
brown, and the tips and edges of the feathers greyish white. 
Greater and lesser wing coverts, greyish brown, margined 
with yellowish grey or white; the shafts deep brown; primaries, 
blackish brown; secondaries, blackish brown, with narrow 
greyish yellow tips; greater and lesser under wing coverts, 
white. The tail has a blackish brown bar at the end, edged 
with white, the middle feathers varied with most of the former, 
and the outer ones with most of the latter colour; upper 
tail coverts, white; under tail coverts, white, mottled with 
dusky brown. Legs and toes, pale brown. 
The full plumage is not arrived at till the third year. 
