Iris, dark chesmit. The yellowish rust-colour on the head and neck
appears in some individuals of tins species also. Otherwise the head,
crown, neck, nape, chin, throat, breast, and back, are white.
The wings reach in expanse to the width of from six feet to six feet
three inches: the second and third feathers are longer than the first and
the fourth. Greater and lesser wing coverts, primaries, secondaries,
tertiaries, greater and lesser under wing coverts, tail, of twenty
feathers, wedge-shaped, and the tail coverts, white. Legs and toes,
dull black; webs, dull black.
The young, the first, year, are greyish brown. In the second year,
the bill is pale yellow over the base; iris, orange. The head and
the breast are much tinged with red rust-colour; on the latter it wears
off soonest. The young, according to Yarrell, have only eighteen
feathers in tin1 tail, and Selby gives this number to the adult; the
point might therefore be considered as 'adhuc sub judice,' but the
former statement seems the correct one.