THE BROWN-HEADED GULL. 
417 
756. LARUS BEUNNEICEPHALUS. 
THE BROWN-HEADED GULL. 
Larus brunneicephalus, Jerd. Madr. Journ. xii. p. 225 ; Hume. Nests and Eggs^ 
p. 647 ; Scully, S. F. iv. p, 203 ; Armstrony, S. F. iv. p. 350 ; Hume ^ Bav. 6'. F. 
■ vi. p. 491 ; Saunders, P. Z. S. 1878, p. 197, %. 10 ; Hume, S. F. viii. p. 115 ; 
Legye, Birds Ceylon, p. 1049 ; Oates, S. F. x, p. 246, Xema brunneicephala, 
Jerd. B. Ind. ii. p. 832 ; Hume Sf Henders. Lahore to Yarh. p. 300, pi. xxxii. ; 
Bl. B. Burm. p. 162; Wardlaiv Ramsay, Ibis, 1877, p. 472. Chroicocephalus 
brunneicephalus, David et Oust. Ois. Chine, p. 521. 
Description. — Summer plumage. The whole head to a distance of about 
an inch behind the eye smoky brown^ becoming darker posteriorly and 
turning to deep black at the junction of the head with the neck^ where it 
forms a complete collar ; feathers on the lower eyelid and a short stripe 
over the eye white; the whole neck_, upper tail-coverts and the whole lower 
plumage pure white ; winglet and primary-coverts white^ shading off into 
ashy interiorly; the tertiaries^ secondaries^ the last two primaries and the 
upper wing-coverts clear ashy ; edge of the wing white; the smaller under 
wing-coverts white^ the remainder ashy; the first six primaries white and 
blacky the first two having the white merely at the bases_, the others having 
an increasing quantity till on the sixth merely an inch of the tip is black ; 
the first two primaries with a white spot near the ti]3 of each ; the white 
on the inner webs of these six gradually and increasingly becoming tinged 
with ashy ; seventh primary with a white shafts the webs ashy and the 
tip white^ with a subterminal black mark on each web ; the eighth primary 
entirely ashy^ with a dusky patch near the tip of the inner web. 
TVinter plumage. The head becomes white with a few dusky streaks^ and 
there is a brown patch behind the ear-coverts. 
The young have the pbimage in general similar to that of the adult in 
winter ; but the head is very boldly streaked and the brown patch behind 
the ear-coverts is absent. Later on, the streaks become fewer^ the brown 
patch is assumed^ and the region of the eye is more or less dusky. The 
tail is tipped with dark brown for a distance of I'o inch on the central 
feathers ; this tipping becomes reduced in size and disappears first on the 
outermost feathers. The white subterminal spots on the first two 
primaries are absent and the whole of the quills are light brown with 
whitish bases. 
Iris stone-yellow ; bill, legs, mouth and edges of the eyelids deep red ; 
claws horny black. 
Younger birds have the mouth salmon-coioui' ; the basal two thirds of 
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