BLACK-HEADED GULL. 



291 



Summer plumage, with the front of a soiled greyish-brown ; sum- 

 mit of the head, cheeks, orifice of the ears and throat, pale brown. 

 Occiput, nape, and fore part of the neck white ; the brown upon the 

 throat much deeper than on the head. Bill reddish-brown ; the feet 

 of the same color, but paler. 



BLACK-HEADED GULL. 



(Larus atricilla, Lin. Lath. ii. p. 813. Temm. Man. d'Orn. ii. p. 

 780. BoNAF. Synops. No. 294. L. ridilnindus, Wilson, ix. pi. 

 74. fig. 4. Laughing Gull, Catesby, Car. i. t. 89. Penn. Arct. 

 Zool. ii. No. 4.54. Mouette Bieuse, Briss. vii. p. 192. t. 18. fig. 1. 

 Phil. Museum, No. 3881.) 



Sp. Charact. — Mantle dark bluish-ash; quills black ; bill robust, 

 and as well as the feet dark red ; tarsus nearly 2 inches. — Summer 

 plumage, with a dark lead colored hood on the head and neck, de- 

 scending lower down before than behind. Winter dress without 

 the hood. Young brownish, skirted with whitish and some ferru- 

 ginous ; the tail with a black subterminal band. 



This species, very common in most parts of America, is 

 also frequent in Europe, particularly in the warmer parts, as 

 the coasts of Sicily, Spain, and the islands of the Mediter- 

 ranean ; elsewhere, in that continent it is rare and acciden- 



