418 LARID.E 



throughout the first year. The outer primaries are chiefly 

 dark brownish-black, but they soon become streaked with 

 white along the middle of the inner webs. 



BEAK. Deep carmine. 



FEET. Deep carmine. 



IKIDES. Very dark brown. 



AVERAGE MEASUREMENTS. 



TOTAL LENGTH 16 in. 



WING 11-75 



BEAK T75 



TARSO-METATAKSUS T76 ,, 



EGG 2-2 x 1-5 in. 



Allied Species and Representative Forms. The South- 

 eastern representative is L. brunneicephalus, a bird with a 

 paler brown head and different wing-pattern. 



MEDITERRANEAN BLACK-HEADED GULL. 



Larus melanocephalus (Natterer). 



Coloured Figures. Dresser, ' Birds of Europe,' vol. viii, pi. 597, 

 fig. 2 ; Lilford, ' Coloured Figures,' vol. vi, pi. 20. 



There appear to be bat two records of the occurrence of 

 this extremely rare visitor to our shores. 



One, that of an adult in winter-plumage, shot on Breydon 

 Broad, Norfolk, received by Mr. G. Smith, of Great Yar- 

 mouth, on December 26th, 1886 ; this, the first well-authen- 

 ticated specimen procured in the British Isles, was ex- 

 hibited by Mr. Saunders at a meeting of the Zoological 

 Society of London, on January 18th, 1887. 



The second, that of an immature bird, said to have been 

 obtained near Barking Creek, on the Thames, in January, 

 1866, identified by Mr. Saunders in 1871, and now in the 

 British Museum. 



