LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL. 629 



Irby says that a few remain to nest on the shores of Morocco 

 in April ; and the Editor has examined specimens obtained 

 in May so far south as Senegal. Statements that this species 

 has occurred in America appear to be quite unfounded. 



The adult bird in summer has the bill yellow, the inferior 

 angle on the lower mandible red ; irides straw-yellow ; head, 

 and the whole of the neck, all round, pure white ; back, wing- 

 coverts, and all the wing-feathers very dark slate-grey ; the 

 longer scapulars, tertials, and secondaries broadly tipped 

 with white, forming a distinct band ; upper primaries broadly, 

 and lower primaries slightly, tipped with white, except the 

 outer one ; a sub-apical white mirror on the outer primary, 

 and, in very old birds, on the second one also ; upper tail- 

 coverts and tail-feathers white ; breast, belly, and all the 

 under surface of the body and tail pure white ; legs and feet 

 3?ellow.* The shortness of the foot as compared with the 

 tarsus is characteristic. In the three outer primaries the 

 inner web becomes paler towards the edge, but there is 

 no grey wedge to form that pattern which distinguishes the 

 Herring Gulls. In shade of mantle there is much variation, 

 some northern examples being in this respect as light as 

 L. affinis ; on the other hand, Egyptian specimens are very 

 dark with remarkably bright yellow legs, owing probably to 

 climatic influences. In winter the head and neck are streaked 

 with dusky-brown. The whole length of a male is twenty- 

 three inches; from the anterior joint of the wing to the end 

 of the longest quill -feather sixteen inches. The female is 

 generally less. 



The young bird is very similar in plumage to the imma- 

 ture Herring Gull, but the general tint of the upper parts is 

 darker, the primaries are of a nearly uniform black, and the 

 tail is black with white mottlings only on the upper parts, 

 and on the outer feathers on each side. With increasing 

 age this dark band breaks up and finally disappears. The 

 legs and feet, which are first light brown, very soon assume 



* In the ' Zoologist,' 1882, p. 70, is the record of an adult bird shot in 

 October, which had the leg and foot on one side bright yellow, and on the other 

 flesh-coloured. 



