36 



Canon Tristram (Ibis, 1868, p. 330) met with it on the lake of Galilee, in Palestine, and says 

 that it is numerous on the coast in winter. 



It is found in Northern Africa ; and, according to Professor Schlegel (Mus. Pays-Bas, Larus, 

 p. 37), it ranges as far south as the Cape of Good Hope ; but this statement lacks confirmation; 

 for, so far as I can judge, it appears to be restricted to the northern portion of that continent. 

 Captain Shelley says (B. of Egypt, p. 309): — "This Gull is extremely abundant in Lower and 

 Middle Egypt, where it remains the whole year ; but I know of no instance of its capture in 

 Nubia. During March 1870, when there was a plague of locusts in the land, we met the 

 present species far up the river in large flocks, busily engaged devouring these insects." 

 Von Heuglin says that it is common in winter and up to April in the Delta, near Alexandria, 

 Damietta, &c, on the lagoons and lakes at the mouth of the Nile, and on the Nile itself to 

 Assouan and Northern Nubia. During the summer it is much less common ; but he thinks that 

 it may breed there. Hemprich and Ehrenberg state that it occurs on the Red Sea. Loche 

 records it as being tolerably common in Algeria ; and Favier says that it is the commonest Gull 

 near Tangier, arriving during November, and leaving for the north in March. 



In Asia the Black-headed Gull is met with right across the continent to Japan. It occurs 

 on the Caspian, and breeds, Dr. Severtzoff says, throughout Turkestan in suitable localities. 

 According to Dr. Jerdon (B. of India, ii. p. 832), this Gull is " found in the Bay of Bengal, and 

 at the mouths of the Ganges and the Hooghly in considerable numbers. It appears to be less 

 common in the south of India, where I never observed it. This Gull is stated by Adams to 

 breed on the lakes of Ladakh ;" and Mr. Hume writes (Stray Feathers, i. p. 278) that he " found 

 it pretty common in the larger rivers of the Punjab, in the Indus, in Sindh, about most of the 

 larger inland lakes of the latter province, about the Kurrachee Harbour, along the Mekran 

 coast, and at Muscat. All the specimens procured were in winter plumage, except a single 

 female shot at Muscat, on the 23rd February, which had assumed the dark hood, though other 

 birds, killed at the same place and on the same day, as yet showed no signs of the breeding- 

 plumage." In Siberia the present species is widely distributed. Von MiddendorfT obtained it 

 on the south coast of the Sea of Ochotsk, and on the large Schantar Island. Von Schrenck 

 speaks of it as being one of the commonest Gulls throughout the Amoor country, and adds that 

 it breeds in the swamps near the Nikolaieffsk post; and Dr. Radde remarks that the first 

 appeared in the Bureja Mountains on the 28th March (O. S.), and at Dsiiun-Tarei on the 

 23rd April, the major portion migrating from North Mongolia late in August. Blakiston 

 records it from Kamtschatka ; it occurs in Japan ; and Swinhoe says that it is found in Macao 

 and Amoy, and is a rare winter visitant to the south of China. 



In habits the present species differs from most of the Gulls which breed with us in Great 

 Britain in selecting for its nesting-places marshy localities inland and not on the sea-coast ; and 

 it may be described as being essentially a marsh-haunting species during the season of nidifica- 

 tion. When there are trees near its breeding-haunts it does not hesitate to perch on them ; and 

 at some of the gulleries large numbers of these birds may be seen seated on the trees and bushes. 

 It walks with ease and grace, nodding with its head as it steps daintily along ; but it appears to 

 prefer resting on the water to standing on the ground. It swims with great facility, and sits as 



