HERRING GULL. 
253 
the quills dusky, without any white at the tips ; tail with a dusky bar 
at the end ; bill horn-colour ; irides dusky ; leg’s dark. In the second 
year the colours continue the same, but rather lighter ; in the autumnal 
moulting the back becomes ash-colour ; the irides get lighter, inclining 
to yellow ; the bill the same ; the rest of the plumage as before. In 
this state we have one now living of two years old last breeding season, 
which now, in October, shews no inclination to make any further change 
this year; from which we may fairly conclude, these birds do not arrive 
at maturity till the spring of the third year, and perhaps not till the 
autumn, the principal moulting season. Nor can we be yet certain it 
is then perfect ; for, upon examining specimens we have of the next 
change, we find the wing coverts still mottled with brown ; the head 
and neck streaked with dusky brown ; the bar in the tail broken by 
numerous white undulated streaks running down the webs ; the quills, 
back, scapulars, and under parts of the body, perfect ; bill and irides 
yellowish ; legs pale flesh-colour. This should seem the last stage 
towards perfection ; and, as this was killed in the summer, it is most 
probable they are not perfected till the autumn of the third year. 
In the two first years the young of this and the less black-backed 
gull are so much alike, that they cannot be ascertained till the matured 
feathers begin to shew on the back. This was ascertained by domesti- 
cating one which lived thirteen years. At five years old, the tail of 
this bird was perfected, and the streaks increased on the head and neck, 
as they should do at that season. In the succeeding spring the head 
and neck became pure white, and nothing remained to be perfected but 
the point of the bill, which was a little dusky. It begins moulting 
about the middle of August, when it annually assumes the mottled 
head and neck. About the middle of February the partial spring 
moulting commences, the mottled feathers are discharged, and suc- 
ceeded by pure white. 
This bird had the range of the lawn, but usually took its station at 
the kitchen window when hunger pressed. When the weather was 
mild, and the ground moist, it ,was amusing to observe its method of 
catching worms, by a perputual trampling on the same spot, turning 
about in all directions, and eagerly examining for those that rose out of 
the ground, which, were instantly seized, and the same work renewed. 
Similar means are frequently used by fishermen to procure worms for 
bait, but it could hardly be conceived that the slight pressure or con- 
cussion, occasioned by the trampling of so small a body as a Gull, 
should force the worms from their retreat, but such is the fact. Thus, 
where man is directed by reason to procure the object of his search. 
