BLACK-HEADED GULL. " 657 
recommencing their migrations. If the weather be calm, they will 
rise up in the ai, spirally, chattering all the while to each other in the 
most sprightly manner, their notes at such times resembling the sing- 
ing of a Hen, but far louder, changing often into a haw, ha, ha, ha, 
haw! the last syllable lengthened out like the excessive laugh of a 
negro. When mounting and mingling together, like motes in the sun- 
beams, their black beads and wing-tips, and snow-white plumage, give 
them a very beautiful appearance. After gaining an immense height, 
they all move off, with onc consent, in a direct line towards the point 
of their destination. | - 
This bird breeds in the marshes. The eggs are three in number, of 
a dun clay color, thinly marked with small, regular touches of a pale 
purple, and pale brown; some are of a deeper dun, with larger marks, 
and less tapering than others; the egg measures two inches and a 
quarter by one inch and a half. 
The Black-Heads frequently penetrate into the interior, especially as 
far as Philadelphia; but they seem to prefer the neighborhood of the 
coast for the purpose of breeding. They retire southward early in 
autumn. : 
This species is found in every part of Russia and Siberia, and even 
in Kamtschatka. They are seen throughout the winter at Aleppo, in 
great numbers, and so tame, that the women are said to call them from 
the terraces of their houses, throwing up pieces of bread, which these 
birds catch in the air.* The Black-headed Gull is common in Great 
Britain. “In former times,” says Bewick, “these birds were looked 
upon as valuable property, by the owners of some of the fens and 
marshes in this kingdom, who, every autumn, caused the little islets 
or hafts, in those wastes, to be cleared of the reeds and rushes, in or- 
der properly to prepare the spots for the reception of the old birds in 
the spring, to which places at that season they regularly returned in 
great flocks to breed. The young ones were then highly esteemed, as 
excellent eating, and on that account were caught in great numbers, 
before they were able to fly. Six or seven men, equipped for this 
business, waded through the pools, and with long staves drove them 
to the land, against nets placed upon the shores of these hafts, 
where they were easily caught by the hand, and put into pens ready 
prepared for their reception. The gentry assembled from all parts 
to see the sport. Dr. Plot, in his Natural History of Staffordshire, 
published in 1686, gives the above particulars, and says that in this 
manner as many have been caught in one morning as, when sold 
at five shillings per dozen, (the usual price at that time,) produced the 
sum of twelve pounds ten shillings; and that in the several drifts on 
the few succeeding days of this sport, they have been taken in some 
years in such abundance, that their value, according to the above rate, 
was from thirty to sixty pounds—a great sum in those days. These 
were the See Gulles, of which we read as being so plentifully provided 
at the great feasts of the ancient nobility and bishops of this realm. 
Although the flesh of these birds is not now esteemed a dainty, and 
they are seldom sought after as an article of food, yet in the breeding 
season, where accommodation and protection are afforded them, thev 
* Vide Dr. Russel’s deseription of Aleppo. . 
