A First Glance at the Birds, 



— Heermann's gull, a form confined to 

 the Pacific Coast. It is of medium size, 

 with a dark-slaty or plumbeous back, 

 a dusky-gray breast and black wings 

 and tail, the latter narrowly tipped with 

 white. The head is white and the bill 

 vermilion in the breeding bird, but in 

 the immature plumage the white is re- 

 placed by mottling, and the bright hue 

 of the beak by brownish black. 



Having familiarized ourselves with 

 this very dark and wholly unique species, 

 we may roughly classify the remaining 

 ones into three groups according to their 

 size. In all of them the adult bird is 

 mostly white, with a mantle (as the 

 plumage of the back is termed) of pearly 

 bluish or slaty gray, the white of the 

 head becoming mottled in winter time. 

 The immature birds are dusky gray- 

 ish or brownish, more or less mottled 

 above and below. It is necessary to 

 understand that the distinctions between 

 the species are very subtle in character, 

 and that the best we can hope for with 

 i6 



