THE WEDGE-TAILED GULL. 725 



whitish-buff ; throat yellow -buff ; rest of under-parts unspotted 

 pale buff, whitish in centre (only one examined). 



Juvenile. — (Not examined.) 



First winter. — Fore-head and patch over and behind eye white ; 

 crown, nape, mantle, and scapulars ashy blue-grey, sometimes 

 some retained juvenile feathers (brown narrowly tipped white) on 

 mantle and scapulars and a few tipped brown on crown, lower 

 scapulars brown with long white tips and white bases ; back and 

 upper -rump pale ash-grey, feathers broadly tipped brown ; rest of 

 rump and upper tail-coverts white, often with a few brown mottlings; 

 lores white ; round eye mottled black-brown and on hinder ear- 

 coverts a black-brown patch (feathers tipped black-brown) ; under- 

 parts white but sides of upper-breast tinged ash-grey and sometimes 

 a few brown-fringed juvenile feathers on breast ; axillaries white ; 

 under wing-coverts ash-grey, those on outer edge of wing brown or 

 tipped brown ; tail white, three (sometimes only two) middle pairs 

 with broad brown-black tips, slightly mottled white at extreme 

 tip, two (and sometimes three) outer pairs entirely white, third (or 

 fourth) pair with brown-black mottling at tip ; primaries : 2nd to 

 4th (i.e. outer three) with outer webs, tips and broad line along 

 shaft on inner webs brown-black, tinged grey basally, base and 

 inner part of inner webs pale ash-grey shading to white distally, 

 5th with white mark of varying size on outer web proximal to black 

 tip, rest of outer web and line along inner web grey-black or blackish- 

 grey, 6th and 7th same but with more white on outer webs and less 

 grey-black, shafts black-brown, 8th and 9th white, tipped brown- 

 black with brown and white shafts, 10th and 11th white sometimes 

 tipped brown-black ; secondaries with basal halves pale ash-grey 

 and distal halves white, inner feathers with varying amount of 

 dark brown on outer webs and innermost dark brown narrowly 

 edged white and extreme bases white ; primary-coverts brown- 

 black, narrowly tipped white ; bastard-wing and feathers along 

 edge of wing brown-black ; greater coverts pale ash-grey, tips white, 

 varying amount of brown on outer webs increasing on inner feathers, 

 innermost as innermost secondaries ; median and lesser coverts 

 black-brown, narrowly edged creamy-white, and lesser coverts 

 along edge of wing often mostly ash-grey, sometimes narrowly 

 tipped black-brown. The juvenile body-plumage is moulted in late 

 summer but not wings or tail. Material is altogether insufficient to 

 determine subsequent moults and plumages. 



Measurements and structure. — $ wing 248-260 mm., tail 90- 

 108, tarsus 28-30, bill from feathers 18-20 (3 measured). $ wing 

 238-263 (5 measured). Primaries : 1st narrow and about two- 

 thirds primary-coverts, 2nd longest, 3rd equal or 1-2 mm. shorter, 

 4th 15-17 shorter, 5th 30-38 shorter ; outer web of outer primary 

 narrow. Secondaries as Sabine's, but innermost shorter equalling 

 8th or 9th primary. Tail wedge-shaped, 12 feathers, central pair 

 long, next pair about 20 mm. shorter, rest about equal to each 

 other and 25-30 shorter than central, tips rounded, in young birds 



