180 
NESTS AND EGGS OE 
as well as prawns, shrimps, skippers and small fish, form theii dietary. 
But it is not only by feeding them that they conserve to their well-being, 
but also by protecting them when assailed by enemies. The sight of an 
intruder is greeted with shrill cries of remonstrance from a whole chorus 
of voices. This not having the desired effect, a score of angry birds of both 
sexes dash boldly upon him, as though to punish him for such rashness. 
By the middle of June the earliest broods are on the wing. This, 
however, is rather premature, for the greater part are not in a condition 
for flight until the fore part of the month after. Associated with them 
may often be seen plenty of immature birds of last summer’s hatchings, as 
well as the adults themselves. The yearlings are easily distinguished by 
the black bill,’ slightly forked tail, slate-colored occiput and auriculars, 
imperfect coloration of the primaries, absence of black cap or white cres- 
cent, and the presence of a dark band along the edge of the wing. With 
birds of the season, which show a strangely- variegated dress of grayish- 
brown and white, there is no possibility of being mistaken or confounded. 
The assumption of the perfect plumage usually requires a period of two 
years. Both sexes are similarly clad. During the breeding-season they 
have the entire upper parts and wings of a clear bluish-gray, variegated 
with a triangular white spot on the forehead reaching to the eye, and 
deep black crown and occiput, as well as a line from the eye to the upper 
mandible of the same color. The first ten primary wing feathers have the 
shafts black, the outer webs and half the inner next the shaft, grayish- 
black, ends concolorous, and inner margins white. The remaining prima- 
ries are of the same color as the back, with inner margins white. Except- 
ing the outer borders of the external feathers, and the inner webs of the 
O 
others basally, which are white, the tail is slaty. The whole under parts 
are of a lustrous white color, while the bill is a pale orange-yellow, iris 
hazel, and legs and feet a light orange-red. The length of these birds is 
about nine inches ; their wings six and three-quarters, and the tail a 
trifle more than one-half of the latter measurement. Young birds are 
correspondingly smaller. 
