THE BONAPARTIAN GULL. 31& 



colour : — described to be carmine in the adult. The tail may be termed even at 

 the end, ' very slightly romided laterally.' The beautiful long teiii-likc wings were 

 to me the most striking character at the first glance, and indicated what was afterwards 

 found had been remarked by Audubon, viz. that — 'the flight of this gull is light, 

 elevated, and rapid, resembling in buoyancy that of some of oiu- terns, more than 

 that of most of our gulls, which move their wings more sedately.' 



" Plumage. Head white, excepting the usual blackish seasonal ear-spot of Xema ; 

 a little of this colour before the lower portion of, and beneath the eye, and a little 

 above it posteriorly — also blackish mixed with white on the nape. Thence to the 

 back very pale pearl-grey ; back or mantle (' manteau,' Temm.) pearl or pale bluish- 

 grey. Tail pure white, except from about a line inwards from the tip, where a band 

 of black nearly an inch in breadth appears. The wings exhibit generally the bluisli- 

 grey of maturity, but have 'clove-brown markings on the bastard wing, lesser 

 coverts, and scapulars ; antei'ior border of the wing white from its shoulder for the 

 breadth of four great primary coverts.' Primaries exhibiting in degree considerably 

 more black than the specimen described in ' Faun. Bor.-Amer.' — outer margin of the 

 first entirely black ; of the second, from tip upwai'ds for 5^ inches black, thence 

 white ; of the third, from the tip upwards black for 4 inches next the shaft, for Sc- 

 inches on outer margin.* Remainder of the primaries terminated with brownish- 

 black, except at the extreme tip. On the third, the first indication of white appears 

 in a mere line of that colour, thence it becomes gradually larger in size and deeper 

 in shade to the seventh, where it assumes the pearl-grey of the lower portion of the 

 same feather. Tlie black becomes more and more tinged with brown from the 

 first primaiy to the last ; the light-coloured tip on the contrary becomes gradually 

 of a deeper shade from tlie third to the last. 



" Shafts of aU the primaries white, except the upper portion of the first, which 

 is dusky. Black appears on the inner web of the thi-ee longest primaries, much 

 lessening both in length and breadth from the first to the thii'd ; in the first it 

 occupies four inches in length, and its greatest breadth from the shaft is 4 lines 

 (i inch). 



" The secondaries exhibit a large space of blackish -brown towards the tip within 

 their pearl-grey mai-gins ; the tertiaries have more or less of blackish-brown irregu- 

 larly disposed towards their tips. 



" Under surface of wiugs entirely white, except that the portions of the primai'ies, 

 secondaries, and tertiaries, which, are dark above, appear greyish. Entire under 

 surface of body from the bUl to the extremity of the under tail-coverts white, of an 

 extremely faint roseate hue. The bird would, I consider, have attained full plumage 

 at the next moult. The weight was 5i ounces. It proved a male on dissection. 

 The stomach contained the remains of two specimens of opossum shi'imp {31i/sis), a 

 little vegetable matter, and some small pebbles. 



" * Dr. Richardson remarks that, — ' the extent of black on the ends increases 

 gradually from the first to the fourth, ou which it measures above an inch, diminishing 

 again in the following ones.' In my specimen, the extent of black increases gra- 

 dually only to the third, in which it is H incli in depth, and diminishes in the 

 succeeding feathers. 



