THE MASKED GULL. 577 



its similarity to the Black-headed Gull, it may, perhaps, 

 be more abundant than it is considered to be. Nothing 

 is known of its habits or nidification. 



THE BLACK-HEADED GULL. 



LARUS RIDIBUNDUS. 



Smmner-B-ead and upper part of the neck deep brown ; lower part of the neck 

 and aU the under plumage white, slightly tinged with rose ; upper plumage 

 bluish ash ; primaries white, edged with ash, and broadly tipped with black : 

 irides brown ; bill and feet red, with a purple tinge. In winter the head and 

 neck are white ; bill and feet bright vermilion. In young birds the hood is 

 pale brown ; the upper plumage dark brown, mottled at the edges of the 

 feathers with yellowish ; bill livid at the base, the tip black ; feet yellowish. 

 Length seventeen inches. Eggs olive, spotted with brown and dusky. 



Black-Headed, Black-Cap, Brown-Headed, Eed-Legged, 

 and Pewit, are all common distinctive names of this Gull, 

 to which may be added that of Laughing Gull. The 

 latter name is, indeed, often given to the next species, 

 a rare bird, and might with equal propriety be applied to 

 several other species, whose harsh cry resembles a laugh. 

 The systematic name, ridihundm, which has the same 

 meaning, is by general consent, confined to this. The 

 reader, therefore, must bear in mind that though the term 

 ridibundiis will bear no translation but "laughing," the 

 name of the Laughing Gull is Larus atricilla, which can 

 mean only "Black-Headed Gull;" a paradoxical statement, 

 perhaps, but one which it is necessary to make, or the 

 young student will probably fall into error. 



Brown-Headed Gull is the most appropriate of all the 

 above names, at least in summer, for at this period both 

 male and female are best distinguished by the deep brown 

 colour of the head and upper part of the neck. 



This is one of the most frequent of the Gulls, to be 

 sought for in the breeding season not on the rocky shore 

 among cliffs, but on low flat salt marshes on the coast and 

 in fresh-water marshes far inland. Early in spring large 

 numbers of Brown-headed Gulls repair to their traditional 



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