610 LARIDjE. 



writer." It is now in the Exeter Museum, where it has 

 heen examined by many ornithologists, including the Editor. 

 It is an adult in full summer plumage, and although its 

 appearance on our shores is remarkable, the bird cannot 

 be suspected of having escaped from confinement, for no 

 instance is known of its having been kept in captivity. 



The Great Black-headed Gull appears to be unknown in 

 the Mediterranean, with the exception of that extreme eastern 

 portion known as the Levant, and it is decidedly rare in the 

 Black Sea. It is common in Egypt, and as far up as Nubia ; 

 and it occurs on the Red Sea ; Canon Tristram obtained it 

 on the Lake of Galilee, and it probably passes along the 

 Euphrates Valley to the Persian Gulf, and the coasts of 

 Baluchistan. Its best known breeding-quarters are on the 

 islands and low-lying shores of the Caspian Sea, and the 

 lakes of Turkestan ; Dr. Finsch noted its arrival on the 

 Ala-Kul, a little to the east of Lake Balkash, on the 9th of 

 May, on the Tentek River on the 18th of May, and on the 

 Saisan-Nor on the 2nd of June. In Mongolia, Prjewalsky 

 observed it on the Koko-Nor in 180 E. long., fishing on 

 Lake Buhaingol, which is its eastern breeding limit, but it 

 does not occur on the Amur or in China. Immature birds 

 assigned by Cassin to this species were obtained by Perry's 

 Expedition in Yedo Bay, Japan, but no subsequent observers 

 have met with it in Japanese waters. On migration and 

 during the cold season, it passes over the mountains by 

 Gilgit, and visits the coasts of India down to Ceylon and 

 Burmah, specimens in full breeding-plumage having been 

 obtained 600 miles up the Irrawaddy River. 



Although numbers of the eggs of this species have been 

 sent to oologists from the Moravian colony at Sarepta through 

 Herr H. F. Moschler, yet few details are known respecting 

 its breeding-habits. Pallas says that it lays its eggs on the 

 bare sand without any nest ; they are three in number, 

 measuring 2'95 by 2 in., and are stone-drab in colour, 

 streaked and blotched with umber and black. The young are 

 said by Eversmann to be hatched in June. Both Pallas and 

 Prjewalsky describe the cry of this bird as being a harsh and 



