308 CHARADRIIFORMES 



the last group in having no hood and a white tail ; but here the 

 young have the head and tail-coverts unspotted. To this belong 

 L. bulleri of New Zealand, the Chatham and Auckland Islands, with 

 black bill and feet, which haunts inland rivers ; and also four 

 marine forms with crimson bill and feet. These are L. scopulinus 

 of New Zealand, the Chatham and Auckland Islands ; the larger 

 L. novae hollandiae of Australia, Tasmania, and New Caledonia ; the 

 South African L. hartlaubi, found in Madagascar; and L. gelastes, 

 ranging from North-West Africa and the Mediterranean to the 

 Caspian and Sind, which lays its Tern-like eggs on sand-banks. 



The third section differs in having a subterminal black band 

 on the tail, and, in the young, an irregularly striated hood. L. 

 crassirostris, of the Chinese and Japanese Seas, has the base 

 of the tail and the under parts white, the bill yellow, banded 

 with red and black, the feet yellowish ; L. belcheri, of Peru and 

 Chili, has a blackish mantle and stouter beak ; L. heermani of 

 western North America has the tail black except for a white tip, 

 a grey lower surface, red bill, and black feet ; L. modestus, also of 

 Peru and Chili, differing in its decidedly grey tail and black beak. 

 The last-named is a connecting link with the fourth section, 

 containing the Hooded Gulls ; that is, those with hoods in mature 

 plumage, but no marked hood in the young. Of these, all except the 

 first three have the mantle grey and the head more or less white in 

 winter ; they are rather small birds, which chiefly inhabit the north, 

 commonly breed in marshes, and utter a shrill querulous cry. 



L. fuliginosus of the Galapagos, and L. leucophthalmus of the 

 Eed Sea and Gulf of Aden, are deep lead-coloured above with black 

 head ; but the former is grey below with no admixture of white, 

 while the latter has a white nuchal collar, as has the much 

 browner L. Tiempriclii, extending from East Africa to Bombay. 

 L. cirrocepJialus of Brazil, Argentina, and West and Central East 

 Africa, which occurs in Peru and Natal, has a pale grey head ; 

 whereas a brown hood distinguishes L. brunneicephalus of Central 

 and in winter Southern Asia, L. maculipennis, ranging 

 from Brazil to Patagonia and Chili, L. glaucodes of Chili, 

 Patagonia, and the Falklands, and L. ridilundus, the British 

 Black-headed or Peewit Gull, which occupies Europe and tem- 

 perate Asia, migrating to North Africa, India, and China. 

 These four differ considerably in the pattern of the primaries, 1 



1 See Saunders, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xxv. 1896, pp. 171, 200-219. 



