in. 



lin. 



15 



9 



12 







1 



1 



1 



9 



1 



9- 



1 



3 







4 



402 LARID/E. 



On tlie 17t]i of October, 1848 (weather stormy), a fine adult 

 male bird was shot when flying over the point of the Kinnegar, 

 Belfast Bay, by Capt. Bradshaw, E.N. I made the following 

 notes on it previous to its being skinned : — 



Length (entire)* 



„ of wing from carpus to end quills .... 



„ of bin from forehead to point measured in a straight 

 line ....... 



,, of bill from rictus to point .... 



„ of tarsus ....... 



„ of middle toe ..... . 



„ of middle toe-nail ..... 



'I'ransvcrse diameter of bill on a line with commencement of 



featliers at upper mandible . . . . . - . 5 



The entire plumage is precisely that of the adult L. paraMtictis described by 

 Gould, viz., " Top of the head and space between the bill and eyes of a deep blackish- 

 brown, terminating at the occiput ; the whole of the upper sm-face of a clear brown- 

 ish-grey ; quills and tail-feathers much darker ; the throat, neck, and under surface 

 of a pure white, with the exception of the cheeks and sides of the neck, which arc 

 tinged with a delicate straw-yeUow ; legs and feet black" (quoted from Jeayns's 

 Manual). To this it may be added, that the straw -yellow occupies nearly two inches 

 from the base of the bill on each side of the head ; it likewise occupies about an 

 inch of the back of the neck between the black of the occiput and the commence- 

 ment of the grey of the back, thence to the breast for three inches, white appears 

 — at the commencement of the belly or lower plumage it is very pale grey, but 

 becomes gradually darker thence to end of tail. The tarsi differ in colour from 

 Gould's description in being dull leaden grey instead of black ; the entire toes and 

 webs on both sides are uniform black ; legs above tarsal joint blackish. f Eye very 

 dark bluish-black ; biU blackish ; cere, bluish-black. 



Comparing this bird with the L. parasiticus afready noticed in the Belfast Museum 

 — which has the two longest tail-feathers exceeding the others by six inches — 

 I find, in all the characters of form, colour of bill, tarsi, and toes, precise similarity. 

 But a difference consists in the recent bird having the beautifid straw-coloured 

 feathers on sides of neck and the white breast of maturity. The stuffed one has merely 

 the throat white, the entire breast being greyish-ash. Straw-yellow appears faintly 

 indicated on the sides and back of the neck over duU grey feathers ; next moult 

 would have brought mature plumage with it. In all other respects the plumage of 



* This bird has lost the two long tail-feathers ; the two longest that remain ex- 

 ceed the others by half an inch ; so that the length, exclusive of the two longest 

 tail-feathers, is 15^ inches. 



t The light-coloured portion of the legs and feet in the adult male specimen, 

 nearly thirty years preserved in the Belfast Museum, is pale greyish-yellow. 



