66 



MASKED GULL. 



BKOWN-HEADED GTJLL. 



Larus capistratus, FLEMING. JENYNS. TEMMINCK. 



Chroicephalus capistrutus, EYTON. 



Larus ? Capistratus. Capistrum A halter, or headstall. 



WE are chiefly indebted to continental naturalists for par- 

 ticulars respecting this species. 



It belongs to North America, and is found in Baffin's Bay 

 and Davis Straits. 



In Europe specimens have been procured in Italy, one in 

 Liguria, in the collection of the Marquis Durazzo. In Spain 

 too, it is said to occur. 



In Berkshire, one in immature plumage was obtained near 

 Newbury; another, also a young bird, near Sandsfield, in 

 Cumberland, on the 6th. of June, 1833. One near Nottingham, 

 in January, 1854, of which William Felkin, Esq., Jun., has 

 informed me; one by J. A. Drake, Esq., of Magdalen Hall, 

 Oxford, at Ashford, Kent, in the summer of 1853. He saw 

 another at the same time. In Suffolk, one at Aldborough, in 

 the early part of April, 1848; in Westmoreland, one was 

 captured near Kendal, the latter end of November, 1841. It 

 had alighted on the back of a sheep, and having got its feet 

 entangled among the wool, was injured by some means during 

 an effort to rise, and being disabled for a moment, fell to the 

 ground, and was quickly picked up by a boy. Another, a 

 mature bird, was caught off Brighton, Sussex, on the 25th. of 

 February, 1853. 



In Ireland it has occurred, but is extremely rare. One was 

 shot in the neighbourhood of Belfast. 



