368 BIRDS OF SOUTH AFRICA. 



any garbage, and generally takes his morsel to his water-tub, and 

 washes or wets it before swallowing. His favourite sleeping-place, 

 when not perched on the coal-heap, is an old tree-stump standing in 

 the garden. He is a great adept at catching mice, which he swallows 

 whole, after giving them a few preliminary raps on the ground. 

 Indeed, they seem a great hon houche with him ; and he will hurry 

 from the furthest end of the garden, if I do but hold one in my fin- 

 gers, or show him the trap He is very fond of worms, but will not 

 eat slugs. He usually washes himself morning and evening, and sleeps 

 much during the day. 



683. Larus Poiocephalus, Swain., Nat Lib. 



Vol. 12, p. 245, PI. 29 ; Xeinia Phaeocephalum, Strick. 

 Jard., Cont. to Ornith., 1852, p. 160; Cirrocephalus 

 Minor, Bp. CoDsp, 



General colour of back, cinereous ; a hood of the same 

 colour, but lighter, covers the head, chin, and upper por- 

 tion of the neck ; wing-feathers black, faintly tipped with 

 white ; a white spot on the two outermost near the tip, 

 and a broad band across some of the others towards the 

 centre ; the rest of the plumage fine white ; bill and feet, 

 deep crimson ; legs flesh-colour ; irides white ; cere round 

 the eye as in legs. Length, 16"; wing, 12|"; tail, 5". 



In the winter, according to Hartlaub, the hood disappears. I Lave, 

 however, never seen it with the grey head in Table Bay, though it is 

 abundant all the year round. I saw four specimens with the hood at 

 Zoetendals Vlei in November (1865), and shot two.* The stomach of 

 one killed in Table Bay on the 29th April (without the hood) con- 

 tained nothing but quantities of a small crustacean common on sand. 



I took three broken eggs, floating on the vlei, which I think can 

 only belong to this species ; they are greenish-brown, profusely spot- 

 ted with brown and purple : axis, 2" V"; diam., 1" 6'". 



Eggs said to belong to the white-headed birds have been brought 

 to me from the Islands ; they are light-green, spotted with dark- 

 brown and purple, but vary in colour. In size they resemble those 

 before described. 



The Sub-Family, STERN IN^, or Terns, 



Lave the bill more or less lengthened, generally slender, 

 straight, with the culmen sometimes curved at the tip, 

 which is acute ; the nostrils basal, lateral, and linear ; 

 the wings very long and pointed ; the tail long, and more or 

 less forked ; the tarsi usually short and slender ; the toes of 

 various lengths, and more or less webbed ; the hind one long 

 and slender. 



* In the fresh killed specimens I was much struck with the exceeding b«auty of 

 the lovely delicate roseate tint which pervaded the whole of the under side ; this faded 

 Tery rapidly after death ; but I think it was the most lovely colour I ever beheld. I 

 have never noticed the faintest approach to this tint in any specimen killed in Table 

 Bay, nor in the living example which I kept for a short time in my garden. 



