o not appear so
much spotted as in the young Herring Gull; the feathers on the scapulars
and wing-coverts were just beginning to show two shades of brown, as in
the more mature state; the same may be said of the primary quills, which
were also just beginning to make their appearance; the tail, which was
only just beginning to show, was nearly black, margined with white.

171. BROWN-HEADED GULL. _Larus ridibundus_, Linnaeus. French, "Mouette
rieuse."[36] This pretty little Gull is a common autumn and winter
visitant to all the Islands, remaining on to the spring, but never
breeding in any of them, though a few young and non-breeding birds may
be seen about at all times of the summer, especially about the harbour.
Being a marsh-breeding Gull, and selecting low marshy islands situated
for the most part in inland fresh-water lakes and large pieces of water,
it is not to be wondered at that it does not breed in the Channel
Islands, where there are no places either suited to its requirements or
where it could find a sufficient supply of its customary food during the
breeding-season. Very soon after they have left their breeding-stations,
however, both old and young birds may be seen about the harbours and
bays of Guernsey and the other islands seeking for food, in which matter
they are not very particular, picking up any floating rubbish or
nastiness they may find in the harbour. The generality of specimens
occurring in the Channel Islands are in either winter or immature
plumage, very few having assumed the dark-coloured head which marks the
breeding plumage. This dark colour of the head, which is sometimes
assumed as early as the end of February, comes on very rapidly, not
being the effect of moult, but of a change of colour in the feathers
themselves, the dark colouring-matter gradually spreading over each
feather and supplanting the white of the winter plumage; a few new
feathers are also grown at this time to replace any that have been
accidentally shed--these come in the dark colour. The young birds in
their first feathers are nearly brown, but the grey feathers make their
appearance amongst the brown ones at an earlier stage than in most other
gulls. The primary quills, which are white in the centre with a margin
of black, vary also a good deal with age, the black margins growing
narrower and the white in places extending through the black margin to
the edge, so that in adult birds the black margins are not so complet