Breeding-grounds of the Ros?j Gull. 335 



sitlcs of the tlivoat, the eyebrows, and the down which 

 covers the upper mandible nearly to the nostrils, are 

 marked with dark colour. 



I may add that the Terns in down correspond pretty 

 closely with this description, but the under-side is whiter, 

 all the throat is dark, and the legs, feet, and bill are rose- 

 coloured, while the bill is of course quite differently shaped. 



The feathers begin to appear first on the wings, and 

 nearly at the same time on the scapulars and tail, next on 

 the upper part of back and on the flanks, and then on the 

 uropygium. So far as can be seen, the new primaries are 

 blackish, the secondaries and tail-feathers white, the 

 tertiaries, wing-coverts, scapulars, and back-feathers brownish 

 black with wide rusty-yellow ends, as are also upper tail- 

 coverts. Flank-feathers and those of the uropygium white 

 with rusty ends and blackish-grey subapical portions. 



Young Rosy Gulls are very lively and clever little 

 creatures. As soon as they see an intruder they try to 

 creep through the grass to the water, and swim away to some 

 distance, even if the waves are comparatively heavy. More 

 readily still they swim to the places where tufts of Carex 

 and other plants, old and dry, stand up here and there in 

 the water, and then lie on the surface, quite still, close by 

 one of these tufts, as if conscious that their greyish-marked 

 dirty-yellow garb corresponds so closely with the spots and 

 stripes of light and shadow playing on the dirty-yellow 

 dead grass as to be practically invisible even at a distance 

 of a few yards, especially if the wind, which is nearly always 

 blowing here, is ruffling the surface. If you lie well hidden, 

 after several minutes the little creature begins to swim about, 

 returning to the ground or the wet grass whence you 

 disturbed it, and uttering cries as it searches for its mother. 

 When caught, it pecks your fingers, peeps and quacks, but 

 is not much frightened. 



The parents, especially the females, make a great noise 

 around an intruder in the colony, varying their voices and notes 

 even more than when there are eggs : " klidw, kl'u'av , klidw ; 

 kividoo, d-ioa, d-iva, d-wa, trrrrr . . . ; pido, ktvee-kwoo, d-dak, 



