LARID^E. 



667 



THE MEDITERRANEAN BLACK-HEADED GULL. 



Larus melanocephalus, Natterer. 



On December 26th 1886, Mr. G. Smith of Great Yarmouth in- 

 formed me that he had just received an adult example of this species 

 in winter-plumage, shot on Breydon Broad : the bird was examined 

 in the flesh by Messrs. Southwell, J. H. Gurney and others, and I 

 subsequently exhibited it at a meeting of the Zoological Society of 

 London. This is the first authenticated instance of the occurrence 

 of the Mediterranean Black-headed Gull in the British Islands. 

 There is, however, an immature specimen in the British Museum, 

 which is said (and, I believe, with truth) to have been shot in January 

 1866, near Barking Creek on the Thames ; but this was not correctly 

 identified until I saw it in 187 1, and, considering the possibility of 

 some accidental exchange during the interval, I did not include the 

 species in the 4th edition of ' YarrelL' Its characteristics were, 

 however, described in that work, and the result was the identification 

 of the Breydon bird. 



I have seen examples of this Gull from the mouth of the Somme 

 in the north of France, whence a southerly gale would soon bring it 

 to our coasts, and it is found nearly every year at the mouth of the 

 Gironde ; while there may be some breeding-place along the low 

 shores to the southward, as about a score of birds, unmistakably of 

 this species, were observed during the first week of March 18S2 at 



