40 a 
LARIDiE. 
On the 17th of October, 1848 (weather stormy), a fine adult 
male bird was shot when flying over the point of the Kinnegar, 
Belfast Bay, by Capt. Bradshaw, R.N. I made the following 
notes on it previous to its being skinned :—~ 
in. lin. 
Length (entire)* 
15 
9 
„ of wing from carpus to end quills .... 
„ of bill from forehead to point measured in a straight 
12 
0 
line ........ 
1 
1 
„ of bill from rictus to point ..... 
1 
9 
„ of tarsus ........ 
1 
n 
„ of middle toe ...... 
1 
3 
„ of middle toe-nail 
Transverse diameter of bill on a line with commencement of 
0 
4 
feathers at upper mandible ...... 
0 
5 
The entire plumage is precisely that of the adult L. parasiticus described by 
Gould, viz., “ Top of the head and space between the bill and eyes of a deep blackish- 
brown, terminating at the occiput ; the whole of the upper surface of a clear brown- 
ish-grey ; quills and tail-feathers much darker ; the throat, neck, and under surface 
of a pnre white, with the exception of the cheeks and sides of the neck, which are 
tinged with a delicate straw-yellow ; legs and feet black” (quoted from Jenyns’s 
Manual). To this it may he added, that the straw-yellow occupies nearly two inches 
from the base of the hill on each side of the head ; it. likewise occupies about an 
inch of the back of the neck between the black of the occiput and the commence- 
ment of the grey of the back, thence to the breast for three inches, white appears 
— at the commencement of the belly or lower plumage it is very pale grey, but 
becomes gradually darker thence to end of tail. The tarsi differ in colour from 
Gould’s description in being dull leaden grey instead of black ; the entire toes and 
webs on both sides are uniform black ; legs above tarsal joint blackish.f Eye very 
dark bluish-black ; bill blackish ; cere, bluish-black. 
Comparing this bird with the L. parasiticus already noticed in the Belfast Museum 
— which has the two longest tail-feathers exceeding the others by six inches — 
I find, in all the characters of form , colour of bill, tarsi, and toes, precise similarity. 
But a difference consists in the recent bird having the beautiful straw-coloured 
feathers on sides of neck and the white breast of maturity. The stuffed one has merely 
the throat white, the entire breast being greyish-ash. Straw-yellow appears faintly 
indicated on the sides and back of the neck over dull grey feathers ; next moult 
would have brought mature plumage with it. In all other respects the plumage of 
* This bird has lost the two long tail-feathers ; the two longest that remain ex- 
ceed the others by half an inch ; so that the length, exclusive of the two longest 
tail-feathers, is 15y inches. 
i The light-coloured portion of the legs and feet in the adult male specimen, 
nearly thirty years preserved in the Belfast Museum, is pale greyish -yellow. 
