SA BINT. 6 GULL. 117
lure hira away. Most birds, as has already been so often shewn in
the present work, resort to every expedient for this object, if not in
the way of attack, in that of concealment;—a harmless 'suppressio
vcri,' which if the attempt sometimes fails, in far more cases successfully
hides from the enemy the situation of the nest or young.
This bird lays its eggs on the bare earth.
They are two or three in number, olive brown in their ground
colour, numerously spotted with darker brown. They are of a regular
shape, and not much pointed.
The young are hatched in the latter end of July.
Male; length, one foot and nearly an inch; bill, black tipped with
yellow, the inside of the mouth bright vermilion; iris, dark brown
surrounded by a rim of vermilion red: under the eye is a small
white speck. Head, crown, neck on the back, sides, and front, dark
slate-colour, below which is a collar of deep black, followed by the
white of the lower part of the neck and nape; chin and throat, dark
slate-colour; breast, white; back, pale bluish grey.
The wings extend rather more than an inch beyond the end of the
tail; greater and lesser wing coverts, bluish grey; the first five
primaries are black, tipped and edged on the inner webs, nearly to,
and sometimes quite to, the tips, with white, namely, the first and
second black or white at the ends; the third, fourth, and fifth white;
the sixth with a white shaft, having the web more or less black,
but. principally white, with sometimes a black spot near the end, the
other primaries white, the shafts black; secondaries and tertiarics,
white; greater and lesser under wing coverts, white. Tail, white;
the feathers twelve in number, the outer ones narrower than the
centre ones, and about an inch longer; upper and under tail coverts,
white. The legs, feathered nearly to the knee, and the toes, black;
claws, black.
The young bird, in the autumn of the first year, has the bill black
at the base, the tip yellowish white; the space between the eye and the
bill, excepting a narrow line of greyish black around the lower part
and in front of the eye, is white; forehead, white; crown, mottled
with blackish grey; neck on the sides, white; nape, darker blackish
grey, shaded off into the other tint; chin and throat, white; breast
above, pale grey white; back, blackish grey tinged with yellowish
brown, the extremity of every feather varying from greyish white to
white as it approaches the tail. Greater and lesser wing coverts,
blackish grey tinged with yellowish brown, broadly tipped with white:
the first five primaries have the shafts brownish black at the base,
becoming gradually darker towards their ends, which in the first three