74 British Birds with their Nests and Eggs. 



It may be recognized from L. ridibundus, if chance should again bring a 

 specimen to our shores, by its harsher Tern-like cry, and by its having the hood 

 really black instead of blackish-brown ; the primaries are white tipped, only the 

 first has the narrow outer web black; bill, legs and feet red. Length 14I to 15 

 inches. 



It breeds in large numbers in the marisma of the Guadalquivir, west of Jerez. 

 Mr. A. B. Brooke, in his notes on the ornithology of Sardinia, notes that by the 

 15th of March a great number of these Gulls had already assumed their black 

 head [which is of course lost during winter], and the tips of their primaries were 

 pure white ; after that date, along the coast of Genoa and Leghorn, where they 

 are extremely numerous, few are to be seen in their winter dress. 



" On one occasion," he says, " I saw a pair commit an atrocious piece of cruelty 

 on an unfortunate small bird (a Wagtail, I think, by its flight), which was vainly 

 trying to overtake the steamer, evidently nearly exhausted, having only sufficient 

 strength left to clear the waves. It was at once seen by a pair of these Gulls that 

 were hovering hungrily round the stern, and they immediately gave chase. After 

 one or two unsuccessful swoops, pluckily and skilfully evaded by the Wagtail, one of 

 the Gulls knocked it into the sea, lighting beside it, got up, and flew away with 

 it in his bill ; but he did not go far before he dropped it, and the poor exhausted 

 little bird made a dying attempt to reach the steamer, his only refuge ; but it 

 was of no use, as he was almost immediately caught again and killed. I dare 

 say this is by no means an uncommon fate of many of our smaller summer 

 migrants." 



