LAETTS ICHTHYAETUS. 1047 



dark ash}' grey, passing on the lower part into ashy brown, overspreading the feathers to the edges, which 

 are ashy grey ; mingled with these are the earthy-brown feathers of the first plumage, and a portion of the mantle 

 co.isists of the adult bluish-slaty feathers ; the wing-coverts are dark ; but in other specimens which 1 

 have examined in this stage they are less brown, the median series consisting of slaty feathers ; the tail-band is 

 not so broad, and the under tail-coverts are almost entirely white, with one or two dark patches only on the 

 longer feathers. Wing 17 - 75 inches ; tail 6-6 ; tarsus 2*7; middle toe and claw 2 - 45 ; bill to gape 3-1, height 

 at gonys 068. 



la the third year probably the adult plumage would be acquired. 



Distribution. — This species, which is the largest of the Black-headed Gulls, is, so far as has been observed, 

 only an occasional cool- weather visitant to the shores of Ceylon ; but it is not improbable that stray 

 individuals wander yearly thus far south. Layard met with two specimens at Pt. Pedro, after a severe storm, 

 on the 11th November, 1851 ; but Mr. Holdsworth does not seem to have noticed it during his sojourn in 

 the north of the island. I saw a single bird at Galle during the cool season of 1870-71 ; and in November 1874 a 

 young bird was shot at Mount Lavinia by Surgeon Keith, whilst at the same time a pair were killed near Jaffna 

 by Mr. Clarke, of the Forest Conservancy Department, one of these being the specimen alluded to above. 

 On the 13th of March, 1876, a flock of five flew over my canoe whilst crossing the south bar of the Manaar 

 channel ; and in November of that year I observed a young bird flying past the Galle Buck at Colombo ; 

 and a few days afterwards 1 saw several more on the Colombo roads. It is evident, therefore, that not a 

 few birds frequent the west coast of Ceylon during the season of migration ; and are most likely all immature 

 examples, which, as a rule, wander further south than adults. 



Although it frequents the east coast of the Indian peninsula up to the latitude of the Hooghly, which it 

 ascends, according to Jerdon, it is not found at any of the islands of the Bay ; nor did Mr. Hume meet with 

 it at the Laccadives, though it is not uncommon higher up the west coast than the latitude of these islands. 

 Jerdon observed it at Madras, and Blyth records it from Chaibassa. Mr. Hume states that it is common in 

 the cool season up the Bhurumpooter to Assam, on the Ganges as high as Monglujr, and on the Indus to 

 Sukker, and that in October and March they may be seen on all the great .rivers of Northern India almost 

 to the foot of the hills, going probably from and to their breeding-places. On the Muncher Lake in Sindh 

 he found it abundant, and also met it at the Sambhur Lake ; he likewise constantly met with it at Kurrachee 

 and along the Sindh and Mekran coasts, as well as at Muscat. The central habitat of this species lies, 

 apparently, between the coasts of Sindh and the Caspian Sea, including an area of territory stretching to the 

 south-east and consisting of Egypt and Nubia, where it is far from uncommon, frequenting both the shores 

 of the Red Sea and the interior of the country as high up the Nile as El Kab, being also found on the Fayoom 

 {Shelley) . From this its regular domain it strays westward to the Greek archipelago, Hungary, and Switzerland, 

 and has once occurred in Great Britain, in June 1859, when it was shot by a fisherman off Exmouth. It is 

 reported to have been obtained at Yeddo by Commodore Perry's expedition ; but Mr. Saunders is of opinion 

 that the birds in question, which were immature, may have been the Herring-Gull ; to which I may add 

 that it is not recorded by Messrs. Blakiston and Fryer from Japan. In Palestine it is common in spring on 

 the Sea of Galilee, where Canon Tristram met with it in March, and observed that it disappeared then 

 from the country to breed. It is very abundant in the breeding-season on the Caspian and the Volga, 

 whence many specimens are sent to England. 



Habits. — This fine bird has been rightly called by many authors a " magnificent Sea-Gull." The purity 

 of its plumage, its conspicuous black hood, its splendid eye, and its stately flight combine to place it in the 

 foremost ranks of the Laridaj. It is in Asia what the splendid Pacific Gull is in the Australian seas, except 

 that the latter, though slightly smaller, is a still nobler bird in its bearing and flight. The Great Black- 

 headed Gull makes its appearance on the coast of Ceylon after or during storms, probably frequenting in 

 fine weather the upper part of the Bay of Manaar, together with the still water in Palk's Straits, whence it is 

 driven towards land by the heavy north and north-west winds which occasionally blow at the latter end of the 

 year. At such times it is to be seen making its way along the coast just outside the breakers with measured strokes 

 of its ample wings, and generally flying rather high. In the winter season it is a very silent bird ; but in the 



