THE BLACK-HEADED GULL. 



733 



LARUS RIDIBUNDUS 



448. Larus 

 GULL. 



ridibundus ridibundus L.— THE BLACK-HEADED 



Larus ridibthstdus Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. xn, i. 225 (1766- 



" Habitat in Mari Europaso. 

 from first three quotations) 

 Larus ridibundus Linnseus, Yarrell 



Restricted typical locality : England- 

 Iii, p. 594 ; Saunders, p. 665. 



Description. — Adult male and female. Winter. — Fore-head, lores, 

 and fore-part of crown white, rest of crown and nape with varying 

 amount of lead-grey or grey-brown intermixed, small patch in front 

 of eye and larger patch on hinder ear-coverts of dark brown or 

 grey-black and usually some specks under eye and often on lores ; 



Portion of wings of adults of (A) The Black -headed Gull (Larus r. ridibundus), 

 (B) The Common Gull (L. c. canus). 



back of neck pale ash-grey ; mantle, scapulars and back pale 

 blue-grey ; rump, upper tail-coverts, tail, and under-parts including 

 axillaries white ; under wing-coverts blue-grey, but those along 

 edge and bend of wing white ; primaries : 2nd (outer) white, shaft 

 white, tip black, basal three-fourths of outer web black but not 

 extending quite to shaft nor to tip, inner edge of inner web black 

 varying in width and sometimes absent or reduced to very narrow 

 fringe, 3rd as 2nd but either no black on outer web or a short, 

 narrow edging on distal half, black on inner web wider and shading 

 into grey towards shaft, 4th and 5th with white outer webs and 



