328 
LARID2E. 
black band of immaturity t>f equal breadth across the tail, one had the head black, 
and the other white. April 11th. I examined through a telescope, though they 
were not far distant, a number of these gulls. They differed much in plumage, 
some having the front of the head black, others greyish-brown, but all, in either 
state, having the back or hinder part of head pure white, like L. capistratus ; more 
than were in either of those states had the head faintly mottled with grey and white : 
most of the birds in this plumage had a black band across the extremity of the tail. 
May 3rd. I examined most particularly, this evening for half an hour, with a tele- 
scope, a flock of about a hundred when feeding on the ooze of the river Lagan, close 
by the Botanic Garden. Some had the front of the head black, like those on the 
17th of April; others, brown; the back or hinder part of it being white in 
all displaying this “masked ” appearance. — Some of those having brown in front of 
the head, had a round white marking extending from the upper mandible. Some 
had the head mottled, and others pure white, excepting the black ear- and eye- spots 
(i. e., were in winter plumage). The legs of those nearest me (about sixty yards off), 
which happened to be the most adult, were bright lake-red. June 10 th. The only 
bird of a small flock of six that came near me displayed the black band of immaturity 
on the tail. 
1839. March 21s/. I was much struck with the beauty of some of these birds 
which were feeding very near me at the edge of the bay, and had not yet as- 
sumed the entire black head, the hinder half only being of this colour, and the an- 
terior pure white, which appears to me more elegant than the entire black head. I 
have shot arctic terns in June, at their breeding-haunts, with the anterior portion 
of the head thus white. 
1842. March 29th. 1 observed several of the L. ridibundus y with heads black as 
in summer, but a few which I saw in the bay, on the 12th of May, had not black 
heads, but, instead, a mere extension of the black ear-spot which we see in winter ; 
this was simply extended a little on either side, terminating in a point, so as instead 
of a round spot to appear a narrow crescent of black. 
1843. March VI th. Great numbers of these birds in the river Lagan, displaying 
black heads. 
1845. May (Ah and 1th. Of about a hundred and twenty seen each day in the 
Lagan, near the Botanic Garden, not more than one-fourth had the heads black. 
May 10 th. Of a similar number examined at same place through a telescope, some 
were in adult L. ridibundus plumage, in hood-like form of black on head, the black 
in such birds being of a greatly deeper shade of colour than in other individuals 
which were but mashed. Some birds had no black on head but eye-spot, and had a 
broad band of black on tail. 
Roseate plumage. — I have had communications from various parts of Ireland, in- 
cluding the south, respecting rosy gulls, and specimens have occasionally been sent for 
my examination. They were all of this species, diflering only from ordinary birds in 
being of a rich cream-coloured roseate hue where others are white ; and most con- 
spicuously so on the breast. Tew birds from any part of the world present a more 
elegant appearance. The description of one will suffice. 
October 15 th, 1832. The most beautiful specimen of L. ridibundus that I have 
