GULL. NATATORES. LARUS. 487 
Larus cinerarius, Linn. Syst. 1. 224. 4.-Gmel. Syst. 1. 597. 
Larus albus major, Raii Syn. 129.— Will. 264. 
La Petite Mouette cendrée, Buff: Ois. 8. 430.—Id. Pl. Enl. 969. 
Greater White Gull of Belon, Wid. (Angl.) 348.—Br. Zool. 542. No. 
252. var. A. 
Red-legged Gull, Lath. Syn. 6. 381. 10.—Bewick’s Br. Birds, ed. 1826, 
p- t. 225. 
Larus erythropus, Gmel. Syst. 1. 597. 
Red-legged Gull, Penn. Arct. Zool. 2. 533. 
Brown-headed Gull, Lath. Syn. 6. 383. 
Provincrat—Fewit-Gull, Blackcap Gull, Black-head, Pick-mire, 
Sea Crow, Mire Crow, Crocker. 
Tue changes that this Gull undergoes in attaining ma- 
turity, and those incidental to certain periods of the year, 
have been so clearly elucidated, and the synonyms of other 
authors who have described it so correctly collated by Mon- 
racu (in the Supplement to his Ornith. Dict. and the Ap- 
pendix to the same), as to render it quite unnecessary for 
me to enter into any discussion respecting its identity under 
these different titles, except so far as to remark, that the 
Sterna obscura of GMEttiN and others, which he thinks ap- 
plicable to the present species, I consider as more so to the 
young of the Black Tern (Sterna nigra), an opinion I ob- 
serve to be also adopted by Temmincx. The Black-headed 
Gull is one of our commonest species, and during the months 
of spring and summer leaves the sea-shore, its winter resi- 
dence, and retires to the interior parts of the country, con- 
gregating in large bodies, which take up their abode amidst 
the pools and wet places of fenny districts, as well as on low 
islands, and on the margins of lakes or artificial ponds. In 
such situations, upon the tufts of rushes and other aquatic 
herbage, this bird makes its nest of decayed grass and other 
similar materials, and lays three or four eggs of a pale oil- 
green or wood-brown colour, blotched with black and grey. 
These are hatched early in June, or sometimes (in cases of 
a remarkably fine season) before the expiration of May. The 
young, when first excluded, are covered with a parti-colour- 
ed down of white, grey, and brown, and soon {become 
fledged ; insomuch, that I have seen flocks as early as on 
Winter 
Plumage. 
Young. 
Nest, &c. 
