LARIN,®. 831 



B. Xemece. 

 Gen. Kroikocephalus. 



Char. — Bill rather slender, lengthened, compressed ; the tip 

 strongly hooked ; lower mandible much angulated ; wings exceed- 

 ing the tail. Of large size ; the head black in summer. 



979. Kroikocephalus ichthysetus, Pallas. 



Laras apud Pallas — L. kroikocephalus, Jameson, J. A. S., 

 VIII., 242— Ruppell, Atlas, pi. 17— Blyth, Cat. 1689. 



The Great Black-headed Gull. 



Descr. — In summer plumage, the whole head and upper neck 

 black ; the feathered orbits white ; the back and wings blue- 

 grey ; the upper tail- coverts and the tail pure white, with a black 

 band ; primaries with a black band increasing in width to the 

 outermost one, which has the whole of the outer web and 

 half of the inner web black ; the rest of the first five pri- 

 maries white, the others grey, white-tipped. Rest of the plumage 

 pure white. 



Bill red, yellow at the tip ; irides brown ; feet dull red. 

 Length about 26 inches; wing 19 to 20; tail 7; bill at 

 front 2% ; tarsus 3. The closed wing exceeds the tail by about 

 1| inch. 



In winter the head and neck are white, with a few dusky mark- 

 ings down the nape and on the back of the neck ; and the central 

 tail feathers are sometimes grey. The young bird has the head 

 white with brown streaks, the back and wings grey with brown 

 marks, the tail mottled with brown at its base. 



This fine Gull is rare in India, and I have only seen it on the 

 sea coast, at Madras, and at the head of the Bay of Bengal, 

 occasionally coming up the mouth of the Hooghly and other large 

 rivers. It is chiefly an inhabitant of Northern and Central Asia, 

 and Pallas, who observed it there, states that its voice is deep and 

 like that of the Raven ; and that it lays its eggs on the sand of some 

 of the larger rivers. It has lately been killed in Europe, and even 

 recently in Britain. 



