MEDITERRANEAN BLACK-HEADED GULL. 55 



and reaching the outer web, the innermost primaries very pale 

 pearly-grey, with a black spot near the end of the outer web, 

 which is developed into a large black patch on the secondaries ; 

 tail white, with a broad black band at the end; head white, with 

 dusky streaks, more distinct on the ear-coverts; bill duller in col- 

 our, with more black at the angle; tarsi and toes reddish-brown. 



Characters. The adult of the present species may be easily 

 recognised by its black head, pearl-grey mantle, wing less than 

 12 inches, and by its coral-red bill, with a dark sub-terminal 

 zone. (Cf. Saunders, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xxv. p. 170.) 



According to the characters given by Mr. Saunders for the 

 distinguishing of the young bird, Z. melanocephalus has much 

 more black on the three outer primaries than either Z. Phila- 

 delphia or Z. ridibundus^ but the amount of white on these quills 

 varies at different stages of the life of these birds, and imma- 

 ture specimens require the greatest care to identify them 

 correctly. In Z. melanocephalus the young bird has black on 

 both sides of the shaft of the second and third primary; in 

 Z. Philadelphia the shaft of the third primary has no black 

 along its inner margin, and very little on the inner web of the 

 first and second. In Z. ridibundus the young has no black 

 on the inner line of the shaft in the second and third primaries 

 and scarcely any on the first one, but the three outer primaries 

 have a broad border of black along the margin of the inner 

 web. 



Range in Great Britain. Two examples of this Gull have been 

 obtained in England. One, a young bird, was shot in Barking 

 Creek on the Thames in January, 1866, and was brought to 

 Mr. Whitely of Woolwich, who mounted it himself, and after- 

 wards parted with the specimen to the British Museum.* A 

 second individual was obtained on Breydon Broad, near 

 Yarmouth, in December, 1886, by Mr. G. Smith. The latter 

 bird, an adult in winter plumage, was seen in the flesh by 

 several competent ornithologists, and both of the specimens 

 have been examined by Mr. Saunders, and identified by him 

 as being Larus melanocephalus. 



Range outside the British Islands. This species, as its name 

 implies, is an inhabitant of the Mediterranean, whence it 

 extends to the Black Sea, and has been said to breed in 



