THE GENUS LAllUS. 
265 
grey, blotched and spotted with brownish : there is a con- 
siderable variation in the ground-colour, as well as in the 
form of the markings and their tints. 
It has not been the custom with ornithologists to observe 
the young birds before they have left the ne&t. I have be- 
fore me a specimen (the examination of which I owe to the 
liberality of Dr Richardson), from the last, expedition 
under Captain Parry, which is about a week old, and is 
marked "Young of L. argent atus^ 17th August 1821, 
Duke of York''s Bay the tip of both mandibles is wine- 
yellow, the rest of the beak pale brown ; the feet dusky, 
the claws yellowish. The whole body is closely invested 
with a dense, long, and very soft down, greyish-white on 
the breast and belly, of a deeper tint on the rest, mottled 
with brownish-grey, the spots on the head deepest. 
Young Bird, fully Jledged. — Head, neck, and under 
parts, deep grey, variegated with numerous spots of pale 
brown; feathers of the upper parts pale brown in the 
middle, edged with a narrow reddish band, tail-feathers 
more brown than white, of the latter colour at the base, all 
terminated by reddish-yellow; quills blackish-brown, a 
little white on the tip ; beak blackish-brown, iris and circle 
of the eyes brown ; feet of a livid brown. Temm. 
From the first year to the autumn of the second year, 
all these colours become paler, and the white more extend- 
ed ; the bill remains dusky, the irides get somewhat paler. 
Temm. and Mont. 
After the second autumnal moulting, the bluish feathers 
of the back make their appearance ; the irides get lighter, 
inclining to yellow ; the beak becomes yellowish at the base, 
the tail mottled with the terminal bar as at first ; the head, 
neck, and under parts of the body whitish, streaked with 
dusky. Temm, and Mont. 
