GLAUCUS GULL. 
149 
feet four to two feet nine inches ; the wing from the carpus 
to the tip nineteen inches; the beak from the forehead three 
inches. 
The plumage of the adult bird has the back, wing-coverts, 
and bases of the quill-feathers, pale sky blue, the rest pure 
white, including a portion of the quill-feathers ; the beak is 
pale lemon yellow, with reddish orange on the angle of the 
lower mandible ; the legs and feet flesh red ; the eyelids 
orange ; the eyes pale yellow. 
The winter plumage of the adult bird differs in having the 
white head and neck streaked with pale clove brown ; the 
back, wing-coverts, and basal parts of the quill-feathers pearl 
grey. 
The young bird has the entire plumage greyish white, with 
a tinge of brown, and barred and spotted with purplish brown ; 
the tail is spotted with pale brown ; the quill-feathers greyish 
white ; their shafts all white ; the beak is flesh colour at the 
base, and dusky at the tip ; the legs and feet flesh colour. 
After the second moult the plumage approaches nearer to 
white, and the markings become smaller and paler. In the 
second year the blue appears on the back and wing-coverts, 
and by the third year the bird attains its perfect adult ap¬ 
pearance, as represented in the Plate. 
