The Zoologist— May, 1870. 21-23 



Exposed part of tibia tinged livid. No. 2. Bill with very little leraon- 

 coloiir, glossy black; mputh orange-red ; orbits black. Feet strikingly 

 similar to No. 1, the flesh-colour inclining to very pale greenish 

 leinoti-coloiir. Both are males, and both are in my collection. 



"Junes, 1868. Second Summer. — Two in this stage were very 

 different— a male and female. The male was a backward bird in very 

 faded plumage, that of first winter being retained and very worn ; the 

 dark band was still on the neck, though faded to deep brown. The 

 female was in the normal plumage of the season, the back feathers 

 being all renewed and like the adult, the neck quite devoid of the 

 band, and that on the wing faded to brown. The bills, of both dull 

 lemon-yellow, shaded with black, the mouth deep red-orange, the 

 orbits black. The feet dull yellowish gray, shaded with blackish, 

 especially at the joints and the outside of tarsi, where they are quite 

 dusky. (Female in collection). 



So very worn are the quills, tail and wing-coverts of these birds that 

 flight must have been a labour. The general summer and autumnal 

 moult, which embraces these parts, would in all likelihood have com- 

 menced in a week or so, both birds after it presenting the same 

 appearance. These birds give a good idea of the uncertainty of the 

 spring change, and to one unacquainted with plumage would appear 

 in different ages. 



In 1869 I have also copious notes on the kittiwake, but, as I have 

 gone further than I intended already, I shall refer but to one, on the 

 10th of February, when I had every winter of the kittiwake before me 

 at the same time, viz., first, second, third and adult. After having 

 described the plumages minutely, and compared each and every 

 winter, I describe the flesh-colouring thus : — 



''First Winter.— The feet are browner than earlier in the season 

 (very true). Bill clouded with pale lemon-yellow and black ; orbits 

 black ; irides deep brown. Mouth orange-red. 



"Second Winter. — Bill lemon-yellow, tinged with smoky black. 

 Orbits dark mahogany or brownish black. Lips tinged with red, 

 mouth deep red. Feet (of two) : webs dark sand-colour, lightly tinged 

 with the palest lemon-yellow, in one bird darker than in the other; 

 tops of the toes, front of tarsi dark sandy brown, the joinings of the 

 scutella inchning to dirty lemon-yellow white, the outside of tarsi and 

 of outer toe dark smoky brown. Inside of tarsi, tibiae and their joints 

 strongly tinged with very pale lemon-yellow ; in one bird the lemon- 

 colour is hardly more than a sandy white. 



