SILVERY GULL. 



ochre tinge, with the angle of the lower mandible of 

 a bright red : the border of the eyes and the irides 

 bright yellow : the top of the head, the space round 

 the eyes, the occiput, nape, and sides of the neck 

 white ; with a longitudinal brown stripe down the 

 middle of each feather : the forehead, throat, and all 

 the under parts, the back, and the tail, are clear 

 white : the top of the back, scapulars, the wings, and 

 the quills are of a pure bluish-ash ; the quills being 

 black towards their tips, and marked with a white 

 space at the tips ; the secondaries and scapulars are 

 also tipped with white : the legs are of a livid flesh- 

 colour. The young have the head, neck, and all the 

 under parts of a deep griseous, varied with numerous 

 brown spots : the feathers on the upper parts are 

 clear brown in the middle, and are all edged with a 

 straight yellowish band : the tail-feathers are brownish, 

 with their base white and their tips yellowish : the 

 quills are dusky-brown, delicately tipped with white : 

 the beak is dusky-brown : the irides and naked circle 

 brown: the legs livid-brown. After the first year 

 the colours become paler, and the white predominates. 

 After the autumnal moult of the second year the plu- 

 mage receives a bluish-ash tinge, and becomes marked 

 with several clear grey spots : in the following spring 

 the ashy-blue on the shoulders appears more strongly, 

 and in the succeeding autumn the perfect winter state 

 is completed. The summer dress differs from that 

 of the winter but little; at this time the top of the 

 head, space round the eyes, the occiput, and the neck 

 are pure spotless white ; the rest of the plumage as 

 in the winter. 



