358 



Deutschl. taf. 260 ; Sundevall, Svensk. Fogl. pi. 49. figs. 2, 3 ; Gould, B. of Eur. pi. 425 ; 

 id. B. of G. Brit. v. pi. 64; Schlegel, Vog. Nederl. pis. 352, 353, 354; Bettoni, U'cc. 

 Lomb. pi. 98. 



Ad. ptil. test, capite et collo superiore nigro-fuscis, in parte ima nigris, oculis albo marginatis : stragulo pallide 

 cano : cauda, supracaudalibus et corpore toto subtiis albis : remigibus primariis albis, in pogonio interno 

 nigro marginatis et eodem colore apicatis, remige extimo in pogonio externo fere ad apicem nigro, 

 secundariis canis, extimis nigro apicatis : rostro et pedibus rubris : iride fusca. 



Ad. ptil. Mem. capite haud nigro, sed albo, vitta, anteoculari et vitta in regione parotica nigricanti-cinereis. 



Juv. praecedenti similis, sed tectricibus alarum minoribus fusco notatis, nucha fusco-cinereo lavata, remigibus 

 magis nigro marginatis, cauda nigro terminate, rostro nigricante, mandibula ad basin incarnata, pedibus 

 incarnatis, iride fusca. 



Adult Male in summer (Volga, 1st April) . Head brownish black, becoming quite black on the lower part, 

 this colour extending further down on the throat, a narrow space round the eye white; mantle pale 

 French-grey or gull-blue; tail, upper tail-coverts, entire underparts, and neck pure white; primaries 

 white, tipped and on the inner web broadly margined with black, the first quill with the outer web black 

 nearly to the tip ; outer secondaries gull-blue tipped with blackish, this colour extending somewhat up 

 the inner web ; inner secondaries like the back ; underparts faintly tinged with rose-colour ; bill, edges 

 of eyelids, and legs deep carmine; iris deep brown. Total length about 15 inches, culmen T8, wing 

 120, tail 5-0, tarsus 1-8. 



Adult Female (Volga) . Resembles the male, but is rather smaller in size. 



Adult in winter (Acarnania, 10th February) . The blackish -brown hood is entirely wanting, the head and 

 neck being pure white with a dark-grey space before the eye and a black-grey patch behind the eye. 



Young in first plumage. Head white, lores greyish; forehead tinged with rusty yellow; a large blackish 

 spot before the eye and a larger greyish-brown patch on the auricular region ; nape tinged with greyish 

 brown ; breast yellowish white, becoming more rusty yellow on the sides ; upper back and shoulders 

 brown, the feathers margined with rusty yellowish ; lower back gull-blue, becoming white on the rump 

 and upper tail-coverts, the latter with a few rusty -yellowish edges ; wing-coverts gull-blue marked with 

 brownish ; quills broadly margined with black ; tail white with a broad brownish-black tip. 



Young in autumn (Pagham, 8th October). Differs from the adult in winter in having the nape marked with 

 brownish grey, the lesser wing-coverts marked with brown, the tail with a terminal blackish band, and 

 the quills with broader black margins, the second quill having the terminal half of the outer web broadly 

 margined with black, and the third with about the terminal third thus marked ; upper mandible 

 blackish, the lower mandible flesh-coloured tipped with blackish ; legs flesh-coloured ; iris brown. 



Young in down (Norfolk). Covered with close down on the upper parts, pale yellowish brown, spotted with 

 blackish brown ; lores and a large semicircular mark on each side of the throat blackish brown ; rest 

 of the underparts buffy white, the flanks marked with greyish brown ; bill reddish white ; feet 

 plumbeous. 



From Western Europe to Eastern Asia and from Scandinavia down to Northern Africa the 

 present species is generally distributed in suitable localities. With us in Great Britain it is to 



