544 The Zoologist— January, 18G7. 



female, and, judging from the ovary, must be mature. So few speci- 

 mens of this rare and beautiful gull have been recorded that I am in- 

 duced to appeud to my note of the capture a detailed account of the 

 measurements, &c, taken by myself before tlie bird was skinned. 

 Bill one inch and one-eighlh long; black to within three-eighths of 

 its extremity, i. e. about the angle, which is dark yellowish horn-colour, 

 shaded with black ; margins of both mandibles very sharp and fitting 

 closely; palate and around the junctions of the mandibles at their 

 base {i.e. the gape) brilliant orange-red. Irides dark blackish brown ; 

 margins of- lids also dark and nearly black. Forehead leaden gray, 

 interspersed with white, the latter colour predominating on either side 

 between the eye and upper mandible. Nape leaden gray or ash- 

 coloured, terminating in a partial ring or fringe of jet-black feathers, 

 extending round nearly two-thirds of the neck. Below this ring of 

 black the neck is dappled black and white for about an inch and a 

 half. Between this point and the shoulder is white, as are also the 

 breast, belly, under and upper tail-coverts. The back, scapulars and 

 wing-coverts are ash-coloured, paler than on the nape, but far darker 

 and more leaden in hue than in most of the other gulls. Scapulars on 

 their lower margins are white, forming a white fringe when the wing is 

 nearly closed, and a large triangular white centre when the wing is 

 extended, the apex of this triangular patch of white being the wrist. 

 Primaries: the first five have black shafts; the outer webs and nearly 

 one half of the inner webs are black ; the remainder of the inner webs 

 to within half au inch of their tips white, each feather being also lipped 

 with a white spangle, excepting the first primary, which is black to 

 the tip ; the second primary is spangled or tipped with white, these 

 spangles increasing in size up to the fifth primary ; the sixth primary 

 has the shaft white, the outer webs black to about an inch and a half 

 from its extremity ; inner webs black about a quarter of an inch wide 

 along the shaft for nearly two-thirds of its length ; the remainder is 

 white, excepting a small black spot on the outer web, about half an 

 inch from the extremity of the feather. Wings, when closed, extend 

 about an inch or rather more beyond the longest feathers of the tail. 

 Legs and feet blackish gray on their outer surfaces, leaden gray or 

 dusky on their inner surfaces, also on the webs. Claws black. Thigh 

 feathered to within half an inch of the knee. Tail : as before remaiked 

 the upper and under tail-coverts are white, as well as all the feathers 

 of which it is composed ; these number twelve in all — i. e. those 

 strictly denominated the tail-feathers ; the outer three, on either side, 



