BKITISH BIRDS. 
39 
THE LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL. 
(Larus Argentatus^ Montagu.) 
This bird is similar in appearance to the Black- 
backed Gull described at page 194 of the second vo- 
lume of the British Birds, but is much less, and is not 
quite so dark on the back as that bird is described 
to be. In the stuffed specimen presented to this work 
by Mr Laurence Edmondston, the upper plumage is of 
a dark bluish lead colour ; the greater coverts, scapu- 
lars, and secondaries the same, but tipped with white ; 
the primary quills, which are, in all the visible parts, 
of a dark brown, are also tipped with white ; the rest 
of the plumage white ; the eye-lids red ; irides pale 
yellow ; the bill the same, but of a much deeper tinge, 
and the angular knob of the under mandible is reddish 
orange ; the legs yellow. 
