338 



LARID^. 



ADULT. 



YOUNG. 



2 Of 



2 



1 10 



1 9 



1 6 



1 5 



12 6 



11 3 



2 



1 8 



Length of bill to rictus 



„ of tarsus .... 

 „ of middle toe and nail 

 „ of carpus to end of longest quill 

 Wings pass the tail 



Weight of adult (a male) 11 oz. 

 Weight of young (a female) 9 oz. 



ADULT. 



Bill bright red, except towards the tip, which is brownish-red. Legs and toes of 

 a pale hue, partaking of orange and vermilion-red. Webs of a darker tint. 



YOUNG. 



BiU brownish-red for about the posterior half, from nostrils forward, blackish. 



Legs and toes of a very pale brownish-red, webs broccoli-brown. Mantle of a some- 

 what paler hue than in the adult, as are the under sides of the wings also. Its sto- 

 mach was nearly empty, but contained the remains of a large coleopterous insect. 



It should be stated that this difference in size between old and young is not neces- 

 sarily consequent on age, but may rather be a sexual difference, the smaller bird being 

 a female. — See note on young and old from Ram's Island at p. 336. 



Thus in February, tte bill and legs of the young bii'd were those of 

 L. capistratus. The same individual in the preceding month of August 

 (like two which I examined on the 4th of that month) would have had 

 the bni pale flesh-colour at the base, blackish-brown at the tip, the 

 tibia, tarsus, toes, and webs of feet pale flesh-colour, the last with a 

 slight dusky tinge in the centre. 



The preceding notes, together with a number of others of a simi- 

 lar tendency, made on specimens obtained about Belfast, justify me 

 I think in cousidering L. capistratus as sjiecifically identical with L. 

 ridibiindiis, and this view is strengthened by the fact that the former 

 is as yet unknown in any country except as an occasional visitant.* 



* May 20i/i, 1845. Since the preceding was written, I have — tlu-ough the kind 

 attention of Mr. G. R. Gray — examined in the British Museum, the specimen of Z. ca- 

 pistratus that was so named by Temminck (Bullock's specimen, purchased by Dr. 

 Leach), and found it to be in 



in. 

 Length total (stuffed specimen) . . . . .15 



from carpus to end of first quill 

 ,, of bill from forehead to point . 

 ,, of tarsus .... 

 „ of middle toe and nail 

 „ of outer „ 



„ of inner „ 



,, of hind ,, 



No difference in plumage except in mask instead 







lin. 







6 



2 



7i 

 4 

 4 

 1 

 3 



1 of hood. The feet are very small. 



A critical comparison of this bird with my specimens of L. 7-idibundus proved it 



