The Zoologist— February, 18G8. 1079 



Adult Years. 



Male and female similar in plumage; the female, as a general rule, 

 is considerably smaller every way than the male. 



Spring and Summer. — Head, neck, throat, tail with its upper and 

 under coverts, under wing-coverts, tips of scapular, secondary and 

 tertial quills, unsullied white. Back, scapulars, rump and wing- 

 coverts, lavender. Under parts salmon-colour or delicate rose-pink. 

 Bill and feet deep canary-yellow. Orbits red. Mouth and lips 

 orange-red. Irides cinereous-gray or pale drab, full of little flecks 

 of silver. 



Winter. — Head and neck mottled with black. Bill and feet not 

 so intense a yellow. Orbits duller red. Under parts more tamely 

 tinted with salmon-colour. 



ACCOUNT OF THE PLUMAGES. 



No. 1. Young in Down. — The down is grayish, irregularly blotched 

 and streaked with brown and black. Feet dull flesh. 



No. 2, Link 1. First Moult. — A mixture of the down and the first 

 plumage. The down remains some time attached to the tips of the 

 feathers of almost all sea-fowl. 



No. 3. First Plumage. — We find this plumage during part of June, 

 July and August; the common gull being an early breeder, like the 

 blackhead. 



Upper or Celestial Surface. — Head : the basal half of the feathers 

 dull white, top portion brown, the edges pale. Neck similar, but the 

 brown more extended. Before the eye many black bristly hairs; the 

 feathers about the eye smoke-colour. Back, scapulars, rump and 

 lesser coverts of secondary quills — concealed portion of the feathers 

 white, exposed part brown, edges pale ; the rump often is tinted with 

 lead-gray. Tail, two-thirds of the basal portion white, remainder 

 black, forming a deep band at end ; extreme tip of the feathers pale ; 

 sometimes where the black and the white meet the white is clouded, 

 rarely mottled with -black. The greater coverts of secondaries dull 

 gray, with a brown tinge ; primary coverts dark brown ; upper tail- 

 coverts white, barred irregularly with brown. Secondary quills dark 

 on the outer web ; the inner web pale gray or whitish, a blotch of 

 brown near tip ; tip white. 



Under or Terrestrial Surface. — Chin white. Throat, sides of neck 

 and the sides of the breast and flanks white, irregularly marked with 



