LARINZ. 425 
THE GREAT BLACK-HEADED GULL. 
Length, 28°5 to 29; wing, 19 to 20; tail, 7°5; bill, 2°6. 
Bill red, yellow at tip, with a black bar across both mandibles ; 
the extreme tip orange-yellow. 
In summer plumage, the whole head and upper neck black ; 
the feathered orbits white ; the back and wings blue-grey ; the 
upper tail-coverts and the tail pure white, with a black band ; 
primaries with a black band increasing in width to the outer- 
most one, which has the whole of the outer web and half of the 
inner web black; the rest of the first five primaries white ; the 
others grey, white tipped; rest of the plumage pure white. 
In winter the head and neck are white, with a few dusky 
markings down the nape and on the back of the neck; and the 
central tail-feathers are sometimes grey. 
The young bird has the head white with brown streaks, the 
back and wings grey with brown marks, the tail mottled with 
brown at its base. 
Occurs more or less sparingly all along our coast. 
Larus brunneicephalus, Jerd. 
980.—Jerdon’s Birds of India, Vol. II, p. 832; Butler, Guzerat ; 
Stray Feathers, Vol. IV, p. 31; Deccan, Stray Feathers, Vol. 
IX, p. 439; Murray’s Vertebrate Zoology of Sind, p. 318. 
THE BROWN-HEADED GULL. 
Length, 16 to 17; expanse, 40; wing, 18; tail, 5°5; bill at 
front, 1°5. 
Bill red, tip darker ; irides white ; legs and feet fine red. 
In summer, the whole head and neck sooty-brown, darker 
where it terminates; orbital feathers white posteriorly; back 
and wings light grey; nape, hind-neck, upper tail-coverts, and 
tail, white ; first primary black, inner web white at base, and 
with a white subterminal band; the next has both webs white 
at the base, and a smaller terminal spot; the third is grey with 
still less black, and no white, and so on, lessening to the seventh ; 
the other quills are all grey. 
In winter the head is white, generally somewhat soiled, often 
with a few faint dusky marks, and there is always a dark spot 
behind the ear-coverts. 
The young bird is colored like the adult in winter plumage, 
but the tail has a dark band, and the irides are yellow-brown. 
The Brown-headed Gull occurs all along the coast and in suita- 
ble places (large lakes) inland throughout the region. 
Larus ridibundus, Lin. 
981.—Jerdon’s Birds of India, Vol. II, p. 832; Butler, Deccan ; 
Stray Feathers, Vol. IX, p. 439; Murray’s Vertebrate Zoology 
of Sind, p. 319. 
THE LAUGHING GULL. 
Length, 15 to 17; wing, 13 ; tail, 5 ; tarsus, 1°75 ; bill at front, 1°75. 
