The Black-headed Gull 



THIS is perhaps the best known of all 

 our sea-gulls. The facts that it nearly 

 always breeds inland, and visits our harbours 

 and tidal rivers in great numbers during the 

 winter months, give nearly everybody an 

 ample opportunity of studying it during 

 some periods of the year. In the severe 

 winter of 1895 numbers of these birds found 

 their way up the river Thames into the very 

 heart of London, and were so well treated by 

 interested spectators, who fed them upon 

 scraps of fish, shrimps, biscuits, and bits of 

 bread and cheese, that they have visited 

 the metropolis regularly ever since. 



The black or, to be more accurate, dark 

 brown hood from which the bird has received 

 its common name, is only a breeding season 

 decoration. In the winter the head is white, 

 except for a tinge of grey at the back and 

 a darkish grey patch behind the feathers 



that cover the ear. 



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