266 Dwight, Plumages of Gulls. [April 



2. Juvenal Plumage. Primaries, pointed, largely white, the tips and 

 outer webs in part, black (Plate X, fig. 1). Tail with rectrices rounded 

 at tips, white, banded subterminally with black (Plate X, fig. 2). Body 

 plumage has much to suggest the adult being chiefly white below but the 

 upper surface is washed and clouded with browns. Bill, pale with dark 

 tip. 



3. First Winter Plumage. A partial postjuvenal moult in the late fall 

 replaces many of the brown feathers by adult gray ones, but a number of 

 mixed ones may also come in. The juvenal wings and tail remain. 



4. First Nuptial Plumage. A partial first prenuptial moult in the late 

 winter brings the body plumage a little nearer to that of the adult, the 

 browns being farther diminished. 



5. Second Winter Plumage. The first postnuptial moult produces the 

 adult plumage except in a very small number of backward buds. The 

 primaries are rounded with the white areas larger (Plate X, fig. 3). The 

 tail has square tipped rectrices and is pure white (Plate X, fig. 4). After 

 this moult, only an occasional bird shows traces of immaturity in slight 

 smudging of the tail or in duskiness of the primaries. 



Larus argentatus. Herring Gull. 



1. Natal Down. At this stage only body plumage is found which is 

 grayish or buffy, coarsely mottled or clouded with dull clove-brown. 



2. Juvenal Plumage. Primaries, pointed and dull brownish black. 

 (Plate XI, fig. 1). Rectrices, rounded at tips, dull brownish black, vari- 

 ously but coarsely mottled with white, especially on the outer feathers 

 and basally. (Plate XI, fig. 2.) Body plumage, mostly grayish or sooty 

 brown irregularly mottled and barred with buff, the markings coarsest on 

 the upper surface, the lower parts being of a more uniform grayish brown. 

 Bill, black. 



3. First Winter Plumage. More or less of the body plumage is renewed 

 by a partial postjuvenal moult which may be delayed until well into the 

 winter. The new growth resembles the old, but it usually shows less mot- 

 tling, the color areas being larger and less broken up. The juvenal wings 

 and tail remain. 



4. First Nuptial Plumage. A partial prenuptial moult renews some of 

 the now worn and faded body plumage, brown feathers, much like those 

 of the juvenal or first winter stages, growing for the third time. The bill 

 during the winter slowly grows paler at the base, the extent of the black 

 diminishing. The postjuvenal and the prenuptial moults seem to overlap, 

 the former often being delayed and perhaps in some cases suppressed, but 

 as brown feathers mark all renewals during the first year, many specimens 

 of this period appear superficially at least to be in juvenal plumage. 



5. Second Winter Plumage. The result of a complete first postnuptial 

 moult. Primaries, rounded and dull black, indistinct " wedges "showing 



