LARIDA—GULLS. 289 
innermost secondaries and longest scapulars tipped with white ; 
primaries nearly black with white tips; the longest with a sub- 
terminal white spot also; rest of plumage pure white ; bill as 
in LZ. argentatus ; legsand feet bright yellow ; irides pale yel- 
low. Length 18:5 to 23 inches; culmen 1°8; wing 15°75 to 
16°25 ; tail 5°75 to 6; tarsus 2°25. 
Adult (Winter): Head and neck streaked with dusky- 
brown. 
Young: “ Very similar in plumage to the immature Herring 
Gull, but the general tint of the upper parts is darker, the pri- 
maries are of a nearly uniform black, and the tail is black with 
white mottlings only on the upper parts, and on the outer 
feathers on each side. With increasing age this dark band 
breaks up and finally disappears. The legs and feet, which 
are first light brown, very soon assume a yellowish tinge. 
This species takes three years in arriving at its adult plumage, 
and breeds when all but four years old ” (Saunders). 
Distribution : Inhabits the more temperate coasts of the 
Western Palearctic region, migrating in autumn to the south as 
far as the Mediterranean and Western Africa. Resident also 
in Egypt and on the Red Sea. 
Habitat: The sea-coast, sometimes wandering further in- 
land. 
SLENDER-BILLED GULL. 
Larus gelastes Lucht. 
Adult (Summer): Back and wings delicate grey ; mayor 
part of first four primaries white; outer web of first, inner 
margin of first four, and ends of all, black ; rest of plumage 
pure white ; the under parts shaded with pink ; d2// slender, 
coral-red; legs, feet, and edges of eyelids coral-red ; irides pale 
yellow. Length 16 inches; culmen 1°63 wing rr-5 to 12; 
tail 4°5 ; tarsus 19 to.2°1. 
Adult (Winter): Bill orange-yellow ; legs lemon-yellow, 
otherwise as in summer. 
Young (Winter): “Differs from the adult in having 
rather more black on the primaries, in lacking the rosy tinge 
on the breast, in having the crown and nape marked with grey, 
and the back, inner secondaries, scapulars, and wing-coverts 
U 
