585 



This pretty little Gull is smaller than the last- 

 mentioned species, scarcely if anything exceeding a 

 Blackbird in size. Like all the Gulls it goes through 

 considerable variations of plumage, according to its 

 age and the time of year. In the full summer 

 plumage the bill is reddish brown ; irides very dark 

 brown ; the whole of the head and upper part of the 

 neck all round is black, the neck below is white ; the 

 back, wing-coverts and wings uniform pale ash-grey ; 

 the outer primaries darker grey, with white at the 

 end and on the inner margin of the inner web ; the 

 upper tail-coverts and tail-feathers white, the tail in 

 form square at the end ; all the under surface of the 

 body and under tail-coverts white ; legs, toes and 

 webs vermilion.* In winter the forehead and upper 

 part of the neck in front and on the sides, pure 

 white ; occiput and nape of the neck streaked with 

 greyish black on a white ground ; a dusky spot 

 under the eye and an elongated patch of dusky black 

 falling downwards from the ear-coverts ; all the other 

 parts as in summer.! A young bird in my collection, 

 killed on the 24th of November, has the bill black ; 

 irides dark brown ; all the fore part of the head, a 

 broadish streak over the eye, chin, sides of the neck, 

 throat, breast and all the under parts, white ; there is 

 a spot of black on the ear-coverts, and from thence 

 to the eye, and immediately under the eye, the white 



* Yarrell, vol. iii., p. 564. j Id., p. 565. 



