LAETJS BKUNNEICEPHALUS. 



(THE BROWN-HOODED GULL.) 



Larus brunneicephalus, Jerdon, Madr. Joum. 1840, xii. p. 225 ; Butler & Hume, Str. Feath. 



1876, pp. 31, 32 ; Saunders, P. Z. S. 1878, p. 197 ; Hume, Str. Feath. 1878, p. 491 



(B. of Tenass.), et 1879, p. 115 (List B. of Ind). 

 Larus brunniceplialus, Jerdon, Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 289 (1849) ; Layard, Ann. & 



Mag. Nat. Hist. 1854, siv. p. 270. 

 Xema bruneicephalus (Jerdon), Kelaart, Prodromus, Cat. p. 137 (1832). 

 Xema brunnicephala, Jerdon, B. of Ind. iii. p. 832 (1864) ; Holdsw. P. Z. S. 1872, p. 480 ; 



Hume, Lahore to Yarkand, p. 300, pi. 32 (1873) ; Scully, Str. Feath. 1876, p. 203. 

 Xema brunneicephalum (Jerd.), Legge, Ibis, 1874, p. 32. 

 GhorJci, Turki (Scully) ; Kadal Kuruvi, Sea-bird, also Pullu, Wormpicker. 



Adult male and female (Ceylon). Length 16-5 to 17"7 inches ; wing 12-5 to 13 - 9, reaching T50 beyond tail; tail 

 5-0 to 5-6 ; tarsus 1-9 to 2-1 ; middle toe and nail 1-8 to 1-9 ; bill to gape 2-2 to 2-4. 



Iris white, in some, however, with traces of the immature " brown ; " bill coral-red, brownish at the tips and the 

 margins adjacent dusky ; eyelid red ; inside of mouth bright red ; legs and feet coral-red, the webs brownish 

 red, claws blackish. 



Winter plumage. Head, upper part of hind neck, upper tail-coverts, tail, and entire lower plumage white ; occiput 

 and uape with the tips of the feathers dusky in places ; a brown spot in front of the eye and one at the tips of 

 the ear-coverts ; back and wings very pale blue-grey, palest on the back, and fading gradually on the lower hind 

 neck into the white of the upper portion ; terminal part of the first 6 or 7 primaries black ; their bases white, 

 gradually increasing towards the innermost, almost the whole of the outer web of the 1st being black; a white 

 spot near the tips of the first two, and sometimes one at the extremity of the 6th or 7th ; primary-coverts and 

 winglet white, with usually a black edging or mark on the longer of the winglet-feathers. In perfect adults 

 there is frequently a small grey spot or mark on many of the tail-feathers, where the inner edge of the immature 

 band would come. The streaks on the nape are variable in extent, but the occiput is scarcely ever pure white, 

 there being nearly always a dusky mark where the brown edge of the dark hood comes in summer. 



Summer plumage. Entire head and upper throat dark brown, intensifying at the lower edge of the hood, which encircles 

 the neck just below the termination of the auricular winter spot ; rest of plumage as in winter. This dress is 

 acquired as early as the beginning of March in Ceylon, when I have observed specimens with perfect dark hoods 

 at Jaffna ; some examples are to be seen in November with partially dark heads. 



Young. The nestling of this Gull has not, so far as I am aware, been described. 



Immature, 1st winter (Ceylon). Wing 12-0 to 13-0 inches. 



Iris hazel-brown at first, afterwards mottled with white in the second year ; bill yellowish red, blackish at the tips ; 

 legs and feet fleshy yellow or reddish yellow, the joints and webs dusky. 



(December.) Head and face whitish, mingled with brown ; tips of the hind neck and back-feathers brown ; scapulars, 

 wing-coverts, and tertials brown, with fulvous-grey edgings ; winglet, primaries, and secondaries blackish brown, 

 the white portions of the base of the primaries much as in the adult, but less on the inner webs ; the white spot 

 on the first two primaries wanting ; tips of the winglet-feathers, shorter primaries, and the secondaries white ; 

 outer webs of primary-coverts black, except at the tip ; a broad black-brown subterminal band across the tail ; 

 under wing-coverts brownish at the tips. 



I have been unable to procure an example in younger plumage than the above, which is the dress worn by young birds 

 on their arrival in Ceylon. The adult plumage with the tail pure white is not acquired until the 3rd year; the 

 next stage to the above is with the back and scapulars Trench grey as in the adult, the lesser and median wing- 

 coverts brown, with slaty edges, the greater series blue-grey, like the scapulars. The tail-band is the last imma- 



