LARIDJE. 609 



it; but, he further adds, they compensate for this 

 mischief by feeding on worms and grubs, to obtain 

 which they constantly follow the plough, like Black- 

 headed Gulls. 



Like all the Gulls, the Herring Gulls go through 

 a great variety of changes of plumage before coming 

 to maturity, which they do not arrive at for some 

 years : to refer again to my tame ones, they have not 

 yet (January, 1869) acquired their full plumage, 

 although they were caught in July, 1866. There is 

 one peculiarity worth mentioning in these birds, that 

 although they were all caught at the same time and 

 place, and none of them were then able to fly, they 

 have changed their plumage very differently, one of 

 them being now, and always having been, since they 

 first began to change, much in advance of the other 

 two : whether this is to be attributed to their being 

 in a state of domestication, or whether in a wild 

 state there would have been the same difference, 

 I am not certain ; but if there would have been, I 

 think it must be attributable to difference of sex: 

 what the sexes of mine are I do not at present 

 know, but by their manners to each other I should 

 say it was "two maids w r ooing a man;" if so the 

 male is certainly a full year in advance of the other 

 two. The young birds of the year have the bill 

 black ; irides dark brown ; the plumage very much 

 resembles that of the young of the Lesser Black- 

 backed Gull. The first note I have of any material 



