BLACK-HEADED GULL. 79 



white feathers nearly round them; behind the eye is a spot 

 of white, and in winter a crescent-shaped patch of black and 

 grey in front of it, and another on the ear coverts. Head, 

 crown, and neck all round on the upper part, dark brown, 

 in winter white, with only a dusky patch behind the eye; 

 the dark colour appears to be assumed again in the spring 

 very rapidly; the feathers are not shed, but their colour is 

 changed; in a bird kept in the garden of the Zoological 

 Society, the metamorphosis was completed in five days; it 

 began on the llth. of March; nape, white; chin and throat, 

 dark brown, in winter white; breast, white, with sometimes 

 a roseate tint; back, pale blue grey. 



The wings have the first quill feather the longest; they are 

 upwards of three feet in extent; greater wing coverts, white; 

 lesser wing coverts, pale blue grey; the first primary is black 

 on the lower part of the. outer web, the tip, and the outer 

 margin of the inner web, the rest of it white, the three next 

 are white on the shafts and the greater part of the outer 

 webs, but margined gradually with black; the ends, except the 

 extreme point, which is white, and half their inner webs black, 

 passing into blackish grey near the bases of the feathers; the 

 fourth is white on the outer web, grey on the inner, but 

 edged with black; the fifth and sixth grey on both webs, the 

 edge of the inner and the tip black; tertiaries, grey. Tail, 

 white; .upper ta 1 '! coverts, white. Legs and toes, deep vermilion 

 red, all more dull in winter. 



The female resembles the male. 



The young are at first covered with down of white, grey, 

 and brown, and very soon become fledged. 



In the young bird of the year, the bill is yellowish brown 

 with a tinge of red, the tip darker; the head on the crown 

 and back is yellowish brown with some white, in winter 

 white streaked with grey, and before the eye is a crescent- 

 shaped spot of deep brown, and another upon the ear coverts. 

 Throat and breast, white, with a faint blush of pink; back 

 on the upper part, bluish grey, on the lower white. Greater 

 wing coverts, bluish grey; lesser wing coverts, bluish grey, 

 mottled with yellowish brown; the primaries have their outer 

 webs and tips dusky black, the inner ones white; secondaries, 

 yellowish grey, edged with white; tertiaries, yellowish grey, 

 edged with white. Tail, greyish white on the inner part with 

 a broad bar of dusky black at the end, narrowed in winter. 

 Legs and toes, yellowish brown j webs, yellowish brown. 



