622 LARIDyE. 



in Greenland, but its habitat and breeding-places were not 

 known until the return of Messrs. Seebohm and Harvie-Brown 

 from the Petchora in 1875. The series of skins obtained by 

 these energetic naturalists threw a light upon many points in 

 distribution which had hitherto been obscure ; and through 

 the subsequent observations of Mr. Seebohm, Drs. Finsch and 

 Brehm, and others, some accurate knowledge of its distri- 

 bution was attained. It proved to be a visitor for breeding 

 purposes to Northern Siberia, from the White Sea to Kamt- 

 schatka, and to the steppes and mountain lakes which lie 

 to the north of the great Asian range. It passes the cold 

 season in the waters of South-eastern Europe, North Africa, 

 Arabia, India, China*, and Japan ; and as Mr. Gatke has 

 obtained it in Heligoland (Ibis, 1878, p. 489), it is very 

 likely to visit the British Islands. Its mantle is dark slate- 

 colour, resembling that of pale examples of L. fuscus, and 

 the legs and feet are yellow as in the latter species ; but the 

 foot is slightly larger in proportion, and a ' wedge ' of grey 

 colour is present in the upper part of the outer primaries, 

 whereas there is no ' pattern ' of that kind in the outer quill- 

 feathers cf the Lesser Black-backed Gull. It is also a larger 

 bird, and was indeed at first identified by Dr. Finsch with 

 L. marinus. 



The adult Herring Gull in summer has the bill yellow, the 

 angle of the under mandible red ; edges of the eyelids yellow, 

 the irides straw-colour; head and neck, all round, pure white; 

 the back, and all the wing-coverts uniform delicate french- 

 grey ; tertials tipped with white. In very old individuals 

 the outer primary is mostly black, with a grey ' wedge ' run- 

 ning from the base down the inner web ; the tip is white for 

 fully two inches ; in the second a broad white sub-apical 

 patch or ' mirror ' connects with the grey inner web, and is 

 cut off from the white tip by a black bar ; the third, fourth, 

 and fifth primaries are barred with black ; the rest are grey 

 tipped with white. In younger birds there is less white 

 on the primaries. Upper tail-coverts and tail-feathers pure 

 white ; chin, throat, breast, belly, and all the under surface 

 of the body and tail pure white ; legs and feet flesh-colour. 



