CUAP. XXVIT.] BOATSWAIN-GULLS. 219 



colour, a kind of sooty dull black, with very little gloss or 

 shining tints on their feathers. The boatswains seldom appear 

 here excepting during April and May. All the gull tribe 

 during their first year are of a dingy and mottled colour, very 

 unlike the neat and elegant combination of colours they after- 

 wards acquire. 



