CUNEATE-TAILED GULL. 583 



primaries white; central pair of tail-feathers the longest; 

 the remainder graduated, forming a wedge-shaped tail ; legs, 

 toes, and interdigital membranes vermilion ; the claws black. 



The whole length of the bird is about fourteen inches ; 

 wing, from the anterior bend to the end of the first primary, 

 which is the longest, ten inches and a half; bill, from the 

 point to the feathers on the top, three-fourths of an inch ; 

 length of the tarsus one inch and a quarter. f 



In the two immature specimens in the Mainz Museum 

 the bill is black, feathered to the base of nostril, thence to 

 tip *6 in. ; from gape to tip 1*2 in. ; head white ; a few dark 

 hairlike feathers round the eye of one specimen, and beneath 

 the eye of the other ; black colour slightly developed on the 

 one, distinct in the other, especially on the nape ; breast 

 pure white, with a pink tinge on the lower part and on the 

 abdomen ; mantle to rump grey, lighter on shoulders ; pri- 

 maries, first, second, and third smoke-brown on outer web and 

 shaft, this colour running round the tip, and some way up 

 the inner web, the remainder of which is white ; on the fourth 

 and fifth the white portion increases, but the shaft continues 

 dark, although successively becoming lighter, till on the tenth 

 it is pure white ; in the sixth the dark marking on the webs 

 becomes a brown bar, which gradually decreases until it is 

 nearly lost in the ninth, and totally so in the tenth primary, 

 which is entirely white ; these dark tips give a very pretty 

 barred appearance to the wings ; secondaries pearl-grey, 

 passing into white, thus forming a white band ; carpals and 

 upper wing-coverts smoke-brown, faintly tipped with white ; 

 lower wing- coverts grey, like the mantle, but tertials smoke- 

 brown ; tail pure white in one specimen ; in the other the 

 third and fourth feathers on each side are barred with smoke- 

 brown (Ibis, 1875, p. 485). 



