so that be did not consider himself justified at the time 

 of writing (1884) in admitting it as a British bird. 

 With regard to the second reported occurrence of this 

 Gnll in England, I received a letter from Mr. George 

 Smith, naturalist of Great Yarmouth, with date of 

 December 26, 1886, from which I quote verbatim: — 

 " I have got, shot to-day on Breydon, the first British 

 adult specimen of the Mediterranean Black-headed Gull." 

 Mr. G. Smith soon after this letter sent me a coloured 

 sketch of this specimen ; this left no doubt in my mind 

 that it had been taken from, and fairly represented, an 

 adult specimen of the present species in winter plumage. 

 This bird was examined " in the flesh " by Mr. J. H. 

 Gurney, Jun., Mr. Thomas Southwell, and Major 

 Feilden ; is recorded by Mr. G. Smith in the ' Zoologist ' 

 for 1887, p. 69, and was exhibited by Mr. H. Saunders 

 at a meeting of the Zoological Society on January 18, 

 1887. I have met with this Gull locally throughout 

 the Mediterranean, but not in any abundance to the 

 westward of Leghorn. It was common in the bay of 

 Naples, on the east coast of Sicily, and in the harbour of 

 Valetta, Malta, in January, February, and March, 

 abundant during the winter at Corfu, and, I find in my 

 notes on the birds of Cyprus *, " We often saw, and 

 more often heard, these beautiful Gulls passing high 

 over the neighbourhood of Larnaca between April 16 

 and 21, 1875, but it was not till the 22nd, the morning 

 after our arrival off Famagusta, that we came to close 

 quarters with this species on the coasts of Cyprus. 

 Here we found a flock of certainly some thousands, 



* Ibis, July 1SS9, p. 34S. 



