140 BIRDS OF TIEKKA DEL FUEGO 



LARUS GLAUCODES (Mcycn) 

 LaruS ridibundUS, K-ing (nee Idnnceus) Zool. Journ., iv, p. 104, 1828. 



Larus roseiventris, Abbott, Ibis, p. 166, 1861. 



Xema Cirrocephalum (wee Vieillot), Gould and Darwin, Voy. 



" Beagle," Birds, p. 142, 1841. 

 Larus glauCOdeS, Meyen, Nova Acta, Kaiserliche Leojpoldino-Caro- 



linische Deutsche Akad. Nat., xvi, p. 115^ pi. xxiv, 1834; Oustalet, Miss. 



Sci. Cap Horn, Ois., p. 181, 1891 ; Saunders, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., xxv, 



p. 203, 1896. 



Habitat. — Fi'om Patagonia on the east and Chili on the west, to Cape 

 Horn ; the Falkland Islands. 



c? , ? , Sara Settlement, 14tli Oct., 1904 ; juv. sk., Useless Bay, 8th Jan. 

 1905. 



Iris — brown ; bill, eyelids, and legs — dark crimson. 



The Black-headed Gull is very nearly allied to L. ridihundus 

 (LiniiEeus) of Great Britain, and to L. macidiijennis (Lichten- 

 stein) of South America. Mr. Howard Saunders distinguishes it 

 from the latter in having less black and no bar whatever on any 

 of the primaries : these having little more than black borders on 

 the inner webs. It is also rather smaller. 



Durnford records L. mamUpennis from the Province of 

 Buenos and Central Patagonia, but not this species. 



This Gull is common along the sea coast and inland. Usually 

 it is in company with L. domimcanus, but is not as numerous. 

 What it lacks in numbers it makes up in being more noisy 

 and aggressive to man. The discordant " JL-a-a-a-a ./ " is 

 a familiar and exasperating sound, whether on the open flats 

 where one of their special functions appears to be to harrass 

 man, or in settlements where they fight over ofi'al and despoil 

 the poultry. 



Darwin says : — " In the plains of Buenos Ayres I saw some 

 of these birds far inland, and I was told they bred in the 

 marshes. Near Buenos Ayres this Gull, as well as the 



