362 



6 



lightly on the water as a feather, rising with the greatest facility from the surface when it takes 

 wing. Its flight is noiseless and graceful ; and though its movements are easy, it is very swift on 

 the wing. Frequently it will rise very high in the air, and fly in wide circles almost out of 

 sight ; and at others it remains hovering about near the surface of the water. On the whole it 

 is much more on the wing than on the ground or water, and may be said to spend the major 

 portion of its life in the air. 



Its note is a harsh, almost corvine, call ; still it is not disagreeable, especially when uttered 

 by many together. It resembles the syllables Tcree kree or kech kech, and, when uttered by many 

 voices, somewhat resembles harsh laughter, whence its name in many parts of Europe. 



As above stated, the present species breeds inland and not on the sea-coast, the localities 

 selected being islands in lakes or marshy places, usually such as are tolerably well surrounded 

 by water, and therefore safe from the depredations of four-footed vermin. The nests are 

 constructed of reeds and dried grass, and, though not so neatly formed as those of many of the 

 other Gulls, are tolerably well built. They are placed either on the ground or on the down- 

 trodden rushes. 



The eggs are usually three in number, though sometimes four are deposited ; and Thompson 

 states that he has found even more in one nest ; but in this case it is probable that two females 

 had deposited their eggs in the same nest. The eggs are laid early in May or sometimes late 

 in April ; and after about seventeen days of incubation the young emerge from the shell. If the 

 eggs are taken, they lay a second and a third time ; and, according to Naumann, even a fourth 

 clutch of eggs has been known to be deposited. The young birds when undisturbed remain in 

 the nest until able to fly or flutter along, but when frightened will take to the water and swim 

 or even dive to evade pursuit. They are fed by the old birds with insects, worms, and larvae, 

 which these disgorge out of their gullets. 



The food of the Black-headed Gull consists of small fish which are found in shallow water 

 or swim near the surface, insects, insect-larvae, and worms. Where ploughing is being done near 

 their breeding-stations, they follow the plough and pick the worms and insects out of the fresh- 

 turned furrow, and are thus of infinite use to the husbandman. 



The eggs of this Gull vary extremely. In not a very large series in my own collection I 

 have specimens varying from pale bluish white, marked with only a few dots, to deep olivaceous 

 brown, richly blotched with deep umber and blackish brown. The usual type appears to be an 

 egg with the ground-colour pale olive-brown, spotted and blotched with purplish brown shell- 

 markings and dark umber-brown surface-spots. In size those I have before me vary from 

 If* by lif to 2^ by Iff inch. 



The specimens figured are an adult male in full breeding-dress, on the same Plate with 

 Larus melanocephalus, and a young bird in immature dress, with an adult bird in winter plumage, 

 on the second Plate. 



In the preparation of the above article I have examined the following specimens : — 



