50 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



with drabbish white for the longer ones. Primaries hoary slate, 

 becoming almost black towards end, ribs white. Secondaries a 

 brownish black, delicately fringed with dull white. Tertiaries a 

 blackish umber on the inner half, dull hair-brown margined with 

 paler on the outer half. Alula French grey. Under wing- 

 coverts French grey, with darker ribs. Axillars dark French 

 grey. At the base of the bill on forehead there are a few ill- 

 defined dirty-white feathers. 



In all standard works the bill of this bird is described as 

 fleshy white ; and so it is after the birds have been dead for some 

 time ; but those I shot in Iceland, and which I picked up and 

 examined before they were cold, had the bills a dull orange- 

 yellow. This I have found to be the case with other specimens 

 of this bird I have examined here while quite fresh. It may 

 therefore, I think, be taken for granted that the correct colour 

 of the bill in this species is dull orange-yellow, and not fleshy 

 white. The legs and toes are correctly described when they are 

 said to be pinky or fleshy white. Nails pale umber. Eyelid a 

 pinky flesh ; iride dark hazel. Length to end of toes, 35^ in. 

 Wing, 18 in. Weight, 85- lb. Wings reach slightly over end 

 of tail. 



The immature A. rubrirostris differs from the same stage in 

 A. cinereus in several important points, but it will only be neces- 

 sary to mention the colours of the soft parts. In the former the 

 bill is a pale yellow, and the legs and toes a bright Naples yellow. 

 In the latter the bill is a dull yellow, and the legs and toes a 

 brownish flesh. 



It will be seen from these descriptions, but much more 

 vividly when the birds are looked at, that the general appear- 

 ance of the two species is totally distinct, both in colours and 

 build — so distinct that it seems impossible that any practised 

 eye could glance over them and fail to notice it. The general 

 tone of colouration in the plumage of A. rubrirostris is a delicate 

 dove-grey and hoary slate ; in A. cinereus a brownish drab and 

 brownish umber ; in short, slate colour predominates in one, 

 brown in the other ! Add to this the remarkably distinct coloura- 

 tion of the soft parts, and the structural features I have pointed 

 out ; then I think there need not be the faintest hesitation in 

 accepting the bird as a perfectly valid species. 



