444 BIRDS OCCURRING IN INDIA NOT DESCRIBED 



" A young male in the second year had the bill blackish ; the 

 legs dirty orange yellow ; the head white, grey on the nape ; 

 below that some feathers, as also the long auricular mark, black ; 

 back of neck, sides of neck and back blue grey, darker 

 than the old bird ; below white, with a beautiful rose tinge ; 

 the five outer quills brownish grey, with inner web white, the 

 inner ones, as also the larger wing-coverts, light blue grey; the 

 lesser-coverts, three last secondaries, the middle wing-coverts, 

 and a broad band on the tail, which lessens towards the out- 

 side, black ; the tips of the white tail black, or blackish brown, 

 most of the feathers were edged with white. As I before stated 

 this bird has no incubation spots. — (Meves, in epht.) 



t( Young. — Head brown, varied with black and grey ; forehead 

 white ; cheeks and ear-coverts blackish ; back brown ; some of 

 the feathers darker and almost black, and some beeoming grey; 

 lower part of the back blackish ; rump and upper tail-coverts 

 pure white, the latter here and there edged with brown ; wing- 

 coverts blackish ; those on the carpal joint beeoming grey ; the 

 median and greater eoverts more or less distinctly edged with 

 grey or white ; quills blackish, tipped with white ; the inner 

 primaries and outermost secondaries more conspicuously ; 

 the under surface of the wing white, the greater part 

 of the inner webs of the quills being of this colour ; tail 

 white at the base, black towards the tip, forming a broad bar; 

 under surface of the body white, with a few brownish feathers 

 on the upper part of breast ; under wing-coverts white ; bill 

 horn-black; feet flesh-coloured. Total leugth, 10 inches; cul- 

 men, 0*9 ; Aving, 8*7 ; tail, 3 - 8 ; tarsus, 9. 



" Observations. — The bird just described is in the collection of 

 Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun., and is undoubtedly the youngest we 

 have yet seen. It was shot on the 14th of October 1868, at 

 Flamborough Head, and is not yet full grown. The varied plu- 

 mage of black and grey is similar to that of the young Kitti- 

 wake, and a great difference in the colour of the quills from the 

 adult bird is to be noticed. In the fully mature Little Gull, 

 the quills are beautiful grey with white tips, while the 

 under surface is greyish black, the under wing-coverts being 

 also dark grey, while in the young bird the upper surface or 

 the wing is black, and the under surface almost entirely white ; 

 the under wing-coverts being wholly of the latter colour. As 

 the bird progresses towards maturity the scapulars become grey, 

 and all traces of the pale brown feathers on the head and back 

 disappear. A specimen in Mr. Gurney's collection exhibits this 

 phase of plumage ; it was killed at Flamborough Head on 

 the 24th of October 1867, and is described as having a tinge of 

 salmon colour on the breast, although so young. The grey 



