592 BIRDS OF SOMERSETSHIRE. 



to most of the quills partially margined with black. 

 Adult in summer as in winter, but with a dark soot- 

 brown hood; the feet and bill arterial blood-red; 

 eyes encircled with white; the under parts often 

 pale or very rich rose-colour. This plumage seems 

 to be completed about May, but it must occasionally 

 be so rather earlier, as one in my collection, killed 

 at Exmouth in the middle of March, has the hood 

 nearly complete, only a few white feathers being 

 interspersed. 



The eggs are said to vary more than those of any 

 other Gull, the ground colour of some being a light 

 blue or yellow, and of others green, or red, or brown. 

 One curious variety is mentioned in the ' Zoologist' 

 for 1867 (Second Series, p. 832), namely, white all 

 over, with the exception of a black cap on the large 

 end, covering about one- sixth of the shell. 



KITTIWAKE, Larus tridactylus. This pretty little 

 Gull is by no means uncommon throughout our 

 coast, and although generally speaking a very sea- 

 faring Gull (riot frequenting harbours and tidal rivers 

 so much as some of the other Gulls), it does occa- 

 sionally make expeditions inland, generally under 

 stress of weather. I have one very perfect adult 

 specimen, which was picked up in an exhausted state 

 and almost dead, on Crowcombe Heathfield, during 

 some rough weather in March, and specimens have 

 been picked up still further inland, for I see notes in 

 the 'Zoologist' about specimens having been found 



