266 ON THE DIFFERENT SPECIES OF 
At the second spring moulting, the blue of the back and 
wings is perfected. Temm. 
After the third autumnal moulting, the head and neck 
still streaked with dusky, and the tail marked with a little 
dusky down the shafts of the middle feathers. Mont. 
At the fourth autumnal moulting, the tail is perfected, 
and the adult winter plumage complete. Temm. 
At the fourth spring moulting, nothing remained to be 
perfected, in a specimen kept by Montagu, but the point 
of the bill, which was a little dusky ; the head and neck 
became pure white, as it should do at that season, in the 
adult. Mont. 
Cmintry. — Abundant in all the cold and temperate parts 
of Europe and America, along the shores, and occasionally 
appearing along the rivers and on the lakes. 
Manners and jPoot^.-^This species is more allied in its 
manners to the smaller dian to the larger species, and does 
not, like the latter, feed upon carrion, but pursues, widi 
the L. canus^ and others, the shoals of herrings, and fre- 
quents the sands, where it picks up worms, asteriae, cockles, 
and sand-eels. 
Distinctive Characters. — In the adult state, this species 
can only be confounded with the L. arcticus, to which I 
refer for a minute diagnostic description. The young, be- 
fore the blue colour of the back appears, are liable to be 
confounded with those of L.fuscus and L. marinus, though 
they may always be distinguished from the latter by 
their inferiority in size. Temminck does not appear in- 
clined to enter upon this subject, and Montagu confesses 
his inability to distinguish them in a satisfactory manner. 
This therefore remains one of the desiderata in the history 
of the genus. 
