382 THE BIKDS OF DEVON. 



Mr. Gray's request we left the Exe bird with him for exhibition. At the 

 death of Mr. lloss's widow in 1>!65, his collection of birds was removed to 

 Exeter, having been bequeathed to the Albert Memorial Museum in that 

 city, and the Great Black-headed Gull accompanied it, and was under our 

 care for nearly twenty years. The specimen is still in good condition, 

 though, having been badly mounted at first, it had to be restuffed, and it 

 has been much handled (W. D'U.). 



This, the king of the Black-headed Gulls, has its home on the Caspian 

 Sea, and it must have been a strange chance which brought one to the 

 mouth of our Devonshire Exe, off Exmouth, at the beginning of the 

 summer of 1859. Xo other example has been obtained in the United 

 Kingdom except this very fine specimen, which is to be seen, rather 

 indifferently stuffed, unfortunately, in the Museum at Exeter, where it is 

 certainly one of the most interesting of the birds in the wliole collection, 

 and as a very important object in the Devonshire Ornis we have selected 

 it for one of our Plates. One example is said to have been shot some 

 years since upon Heligoland, and is included in the list of birds obtained 

 upon that wonderful rock by Herr Giitke. The Great Black-headed Gull 

 is said to breed in colonies upon marshes like the Common Black-headed 

 Gull, but its eggs are still rare in collections. "We have been informed by 

 Mr. J. H. Gurney that he was very disappointed when he first saw this 

 Gull upon the wing in Egypt, where it is common, as it did not come up 

 to his expectations with regard to its appearance or powers of flight, but 

 seemed an awkward and lumbering bird. It is said to have a very 

 harsh croaking note. 



In the fourth volume of Dr. Bree's ' Birds of Europe,' there is a figure 

 of the Devonshire specimen from the ])encil of the liev. F. Wright, of 

 St. Stythians, Cornwall, which is an excellent rendering of the bird, but 

 appears to us to be indifferently coloured, and, moreover, errs in the 

 colour of the legs, which aie given as a very pale red (there is the same 

 mistake in Mr. Dresser's figure in his splendid work). It is true 

 Mr. Ross himself, in the 'Zoologist' for 1800, p. 6800, has described the 

 legs as "fuscous red," but must have done so in error, as such excellent 

 authorities as Mr. Howard Saunders and Mr. Dresser both state they are 

 yellow, or greenish yellow. Tliis magnificent Gull has bright vermilion 

 rings round the eyes. The beak is said to be yellow, with a broad red 

 band across it, immediately followed by another of black at the tip (Dresser, 

 ' Birds of Europe,' vol. viii. p. 369). 



Black-headed Gull, Lams ridibundus, Linn. 



[Peewit Gull, Maddrick Gull, Eed-legged Gull.] 



Yery abundant in large flocks on the estuaries of the south coast in 

 autumn, winter, and spring. Comparatively few are met with in 

 summer, and Mr. J. Gatcombe had never met with one at that season 

 (Zooh 1&76, p. 4902) until July 2Gth, 1882, when he observed old and 



