HERRING GULL. 



253 



the quills dusky, without any white at the tips ; tail with a dusky bar 

 at the end ; bill horn-colour ; irides dusky ; legs dark. In the second 

 year the colours continue the same, but rather lighter ; in the autumnal 

 moulting- the back becomes ash-colour ; the irides get lighter, inclining 

 to yellow ; the bill the same ; the rest of the plumage as before. In 

 this state we have one now living- of two years old last breeding season, 

 which now, in October, shews no inclination to make any further change 

 this year; from which we may fairly conclude, these birds do not arrive 

 at maturity till the spring of the third year, and perhaps not till the 

 autumn, the principal moulting season. Nor can we be yet certain it 

 is then perfect ; for, upon examining specimens we have of the next 

 change, we find the wing coverts still mottled with brown ; the head 

 and neck streaked with dusky brown ; the bar in the tail broken by 

 numerous white undulated streaks running down the webs ; the quills, 

 back, scapulars, and under parts of the body, perfect ; bill and irides 

 yellowish ; legs pale flesh-colour. This should seem the last stage 

 towards perfection ; and, as this was killed in the summer, it is most 

 probable they are not perfected till the autumn of the third year. 



In the two first years the young of this and the less black-backed 

 gull are so much alike, that they cannot be ascertained till the matured 

 feathers begin to shew on the back. This was ascertained by domesti- 

 cating one which lived thirteen years. At five years old, the tail of 

 this bird was perfected, and the streaks increased on the head and neck, 

 as they should do at that season. In the succeeding spring the head 

 and neck became pure white, and nothing remained to be perfected but 

 the point of the bill, which was a little dusky. It begins moulting 

 about the middle of August, when it annually assumes the mottled 

 head and neck. About the middle of February the partial spring- 

 moulting commences, the mottled feathers are discharged, and suc- 

 ceeded by pure white. 



This bird had the range of the lawn, but usually took its station at 

 the kitchen window when hunger pressed. When the weather was 

 mild, and the ground moist, it was amusing to observe its method of 

 catching worms, by a perputual trampling on the same spot, turning 

 about in all directions, and eagerly examining for those that rose out of 

 the ground, which were instantly seized, and the same work renewed. 

 Similar means are frequently used by fishermen to procure worms for 

 bait, but it could hardly be conceived that the slight pressure or con- 

 cussion, occasioned by the trampling of so small a body as a Gull, 

 should force the worms from their retreat, but such is the fact. Thus, 

 where man is directed by reason to procure the object of his search, 



