LARUS.] AVES NATATORES. 275 



yellow spotted with dusky: forehead, and all the under parts, white. 

 The plumage is not matured till after the second autumnal moult. 

 (Egg.) Stone-colour, thickly spotted with ash-gray and two shades of 

 light brown: long. diam. two inches two lines and a half; trans, diam. 

 one inch seven lines. 



Not uncommon during the summer months on rocky coasts in the 

 northern parts of the island. More rarely observed southwards. Breeds 

 on the narrow ledges of steep cliffs, and lays three eggs. Food, small 

 fish and marine insects. Obs. The Tarrock Gull of English authors is 

 this species in its immature plumage. 



296. L. canus, Linn. (Common Gull.) Bill greenish, 

 yellow at the tip : legs greenish gray : tarsus two inches 

 one line : wings reaching beyond the tail ; first two pri- 

 maries black, with a large white spot near the tips. 



L. canus, Temm. Man. d'Orn. torn. n. p. 771. Common Gull, 

 Mont. Orn. Diet. $ Supp. Bew. Brit. Birds, vol. n. p. 216. 

 Selb. Illust. vol. n. p. 490. pi. 93. 



DIMENS. Entire length seventeen inches three lines : length of the 

 bill (from the first feathers) one inch three lines, (from the gape) two 

 inches two lines ; of the tarsus two inches one line ; of the naked part 

 of the tibia seven lines ; of the middle toe, nail included, one inch nine 

 lines ; of the tail five inches four lines ; from the carpus to the end of 

 the wing thirteen inches ten lines. 



DESCRIPT. (Adult in winter.) Head, occiput, nape, and sides of the 

 neck, white, spotted with blackish gray : all the under parts, rump and 

 tail, pure white : back, scapulars and wing-coverts, fine bluish ash : first 

 two primaries black, with a large white space near the tips ; the rest 

 black towards the extremities, the tips themselves, as well as those of 

 the scapulars and secondary quills, white : bill greenish at the base, the 

 tip ochre-yellow : inside of the mouth orange : irides brown : naked 

 circle round the eyes reddish brown: legs greenish gray; the webs 

 blotched with yellowish. (Summer plumage.) Head, occiput, nape and 

 sides of the neck, pure white, without the dusky spots : bill ochre-yellow : 

 naked circle round the eyes bright vermilion: legs pale ochre-yellow, 

 spotted with bluish ash: the rest as in winter. (Young of the year.) 

 A black spot before the eyes ; all the upper plumage grayish brown, the 

 feathers on the back and wings edged and tipped with yellowish white ; 

 those on the upper part of the back with fine streaks of this colour : 

 forehead, and all the under parts, whitish, the breast and flanks spotted 

 with ash-gray; throat, and middle of the belly, pure white: quills of 

 a uniform dusky brown, neither tipped nor spotted with white : tail white, 

 with a broad black bar near the extremity : base of the bill livid dirty 

 white ; the tip black : naked circle round the eyes brown : legs livid 

 white. In the second year, the head, neck, rump, and under parts, are 

 white, the two former streaked with dusky brown : back and scapulars 

 bluish ash; wing-coverts still mottled with brown and white feathers: 

 quills dusky brown, sometimes tipped with white : tail white, with a black 

 bar towards the tip. The plumage is not matured till after the second 

 spring moult. (Egg.) Dark olive-brown, spotted with two shades of 

 darker brown: long. diam. two inches three lines; trans, diam. one 

 inch six lines. 



Common on all parts of the coast, and, during the winter months, 

 occasionally observed inland at a considerable distance from the sea. 



s2 



