300 LARID.E. 



Verner, when with the Crown Prince of Austria, found eggs 

 about the 27th of May, 1879. 



Bill slender, as long as head. 



Head, nape, and neck white. Bill, eyelids, legs, and feet vermilion. 

 Irides white. Length 16 inches. 



343. Larus argentatus, J. F. Gmelin. The Herring-Gull. 

 The Herring-Gull is stated by Favier to be " as common near 



Tangier during winter as L. ridibundus, arriving in August, 

 September, and October, and returning north in March, April, 

 and May." 



This bird and the Lesser Black-backed Gull feed in large 

 numbers on the refuse from the slaughterhouses at Gibraltar; 

 and it is not uncommon to see three or four hundred of them 

 together there. 



Perhaps some of the immature birds remain during the 

 summer ; but all the adults disappear by about the 15th of 

 April. 



Head and neck white ; mantle pale grey ; legs and feet flesh-colour ; 

 eyelids yellow. 



Young. Feathers above brown, with pale edges ; tail barred with brown ; 

 underparts white, streaked with brown. Length 22-24 inches. 



344. Larus cachinnans, Pallas. The Southern or Yellow- 



legged Herring-Gull. 



Favier remarks that " this Gull is not very common near 

 Tangier, where it consorts with L. fuscus and L. argentatus" 



This race of Herring-Gull is common about the Straits and 

 southwards from Santander, where it occurred abundantly in May, 

 1876. 



The adult birds are distinguishable by the colour of the legs, which are 

 yellow, as in L. fuscus ; the eyelids are scarlet, the back being much lighter 

 in colour, but darker than in the next. 



The size of the three species is about equal, and the birds in immature 

 plumoge appear identical. 



