288 A HANDBOOK OF EUROPEAN BIRDS. 
Mediterranean, the Black S@®and Caspian, and eastward ex- 
tends to Japanese and Chinese waters in winter. 
Habitat: Marine islands or inland lakes and rivers, retiring 
to the sea-coast in autumn. 
HERRING GULL. 
Larus argentatus Gmed. 
Adult (Summer): Very similar to Z. canus in summer, 
but larger, and has the outer primary chiefly black, with a grey 
wedge from base down inner web, and broadly tipped with 
white ; second primary with the white tip broken by a sub- 
apical black band ;' third, fourth, and fifth barred with black ; 
rest of primaries grey, tipped with white ; bill large, yellow, 
red at angle of lower mandible; /egs and feet flesh-colour ; 
irides straw-yellow. Length 22 to 24 inches; culmen 2°25 ; 
wing 16°75 to 18; tail 6°75; tarsus 2°5 to 2°75. 
Adult (Winter): Head streaked with dusky-grey, other- 
wise as in summer. 
Young in first plumage: Head, neck and under parts 
greyish-white, streaked or mottled closely with greyish-brown ; 
upper parts brown, the feathers with broad buffish margins and 
tips; tail-feathers broadly banded with dark brown towards the 
tips which are white; primaries dusky-brown; bill nearly 
black ; legs and irides brown. 
By the third year some feathers on the mantle are grey and 
some of upper tail-coverts white ; outermost primaries become 
white at their apices. 
By the end of the fifth year the bird attains its fully adult 
plumage, the wing-coverts being the last to lose the brown 
mottlings. 
Distribution: Resident on the Northern and Western 
European coasts ; also found upon the Eastern Nearctic shores. 
Habitat: The sea-coast. 
LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL. 
Larus fuscus Zznn. 
Adult (Summer): Back and wing-coverts dark slate-grey ; 
