LARIIXE. 605 



the shorter ones very slightly edged with dull white 

 at the tips ; the breast, belly, flanks and under tail- 

 coverts are white, mottled with pale brown (paler 

 than on the back), mostly on the breast and flanks ; 

 the tail is white, much barred and mottled with 

 brown. A bird in intermediate plumage, shot on the 

 17th of July, has the bill generally dark horn-colour, 

 with occasional irregular patches of yellow, and two 

 small patches of red on the angle of the lower 

 mandible; the extreme tip of both mandibles is 

 light horn-colour; the head, neck and breast are 

 dirty white, with a few small streaks of brown on 

 the nape ; the back and scapulars are nearly all new 

 feathers the same as in the adult, but a few of the 

 old ones are still left ; these are of a paler colour and 

 tinged with brown ; the wings are quite a muddle of 

 pale brown, dark brown, and a few feathers as in the 

 adult ; the lesser wing-coverts are the palest brown, 

 and this colour is disposed much more regularly on 

 one wing than the other ; the primary quills are dark 

 dusky brown, without any white tips, except on a few 

 of the shorter ones ; the secondaries are much the 

 same, tipped and partly margined with dirty white ; 

 the tertials are the same, except one or two feathers 

 which are like the adult ; the rump and tail-coverts 

 are white; the tail-feathers, except the second and 

 third from the outside on each side of the tail, 

 are white ; these four feathers are the old feathers 

 not moulted, and are white, much mottled with 



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