LARUS. 301 



and passes the winter in Africa and Southern Asia, ranging to the 

 Philippines. It is common at that season in Kashmir and 

 Northern India and is found on the west coast as far south as 

 Travancore, but to the eastward it has only been observed about 

 the head of the Bay of Bengal. Godwin-Austen obtained it in 

 Assam, and Hume in Manipur, but it does not appear to have 

 been observed in Burma. 



Habits, fyc. The Laughing Gull in India is found alike on the 

 sea-coast and about large rivers, marshes, and the larger tanks. It 

 breeds inland, but has not been recorded as nesting within our 

 area. Dr. Leith Adams, it is true (P. Z. S. 1858, p. 509), states 

 that- it breeds on the fresh and salt-water lakes of Laclak, but he 

 omits all reference to the species in his subsequent account 

 (P. Z. S. 1859) of the birds of that area. 



1491. Larus bnmneicephalus. The Brown-headed Gull. 



Larus brunnicephalus*, Jerdon, Madr. Jour. L. S. xii, p. 25 (1840); 

 Blyth, Cat. p. 289; Layard, A. M. N. H. (2) xiv, p. 270; Leith 

 Adams, P. Z. S. 1858, p. 509; 1859, p. 190; Stoliczka, J. A. S. B. 

 xli, pt. 2, p. 256 ; Hume, S. F. i, p. 278 ,-- Adam, ibid. p. 402 ; 

 Gates, S. F. iii, p. 347; Armstrong, S. F. iv, p. 350; Hume, 

 ibid. pp. 413, 456, 459 ; Butler, S. F. iv, p. 31 ; v. p. 235 ; Hume 

 8f Dav. S. F. vi, p. 491 ; Hume, S. F. vii. p. 98 ; Oripps, ibid. p. 313 ; 



Hume, Cat. no. 980 ; Legge, Birds Ceyl. p. 1049 ; Vidal, S. F. ix, 

 p. 94: Butler, ibid. p. 439 ; Reid, S. F. x, p. 86; Gates, B. B. ii, 

 p. 417; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 425; Hume, S. F. xi, p. 349; 

 Gates in Hume's N.fy E. 2nd. ed. iii, p. 293; Sharpe, Yark. Miss., 

 Aves, p. 134; Sounders, Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 215. 



Xema brunm'cephala, Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 832; Godw.-Aust. J. A. S. B. 

 xxxix, pt. 2, p. 275 ; Lloyd, Ibis, 1873, p. 420 ; Hume $ Hendars. 

 Lah. to Yark. p. 300, pi. xxxii; WardL Ramsay, Ibis, 1877, 

 p. 472. 



Dhomra, H. (Reid], probably a name used for all Gulls. 



Coloration. Very like that of L. ridibundus, both in summer and 

 winter ; but the present species is larger, the brown of the head is 

 paler in front and becomes darker where it meets the white of the 

 neck, and the first five primaries are differently marked, all being 

 white at the base with long black ends which rapidly dimmish in 

 length from the 1st ; the first two have a large rounded white spot 

 near the end, and occasionally there is a much smaller white spot 

 on the 3rd. 



Young birds differ from young L. ridibundus in having the 

 greater part of the primaries uniform brownish black, white 

 commencing to appear beyond the coverts on the 4th and increasing 

 on the inner primaries, which have white tips ; there is also a 

 more distinct white tip beyond the black band on the tail. 



Bill, inside of mouth, edges of eyelids, and legs deep red ; irides 



* The name brumriceps, proposed by Cabanis (J. f. O. 1853, p. 105), is 

 preferable, but has not been adopted by ornithologists. 



