54 
Allen’s naturalist’s library. 
III. THE mediterranean BL.ACK-HEADED GULL. LARUS 
MELANOCERHALUS. 
Larus tnelanocephalus, Natterer, Isis, i8i8, p. 8i6 ; Dresser, 
B Eiir. viii. p. 365, pi. 597, fig. 2 (1878); B. O. U. List 
Bnt. B. p. 191 (1883) ; Saunders, ed. Yarrell’s Brit. B. iii. 
p. 604, note (1884); id. Man. Brit. B. p. 651 (1889); 
Lilford, Col. Fig. Brit. B. part xxxi. (1895) ; Saunders, 
Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xxv. p. 180 (1896). 
Adult Male. — General colour above light pearly-grey, the wing- 
coverts like the back; bastard-wing pearly-grey, whitish towards 
the erid of the fathers ; primary-coverts pearly-grey, as also 
the primaries, which are white at the ends and along the inner 
aspect of the inner web ; the first primary black from the base 
of the outer web for about two-thirds of its length ; secondaries 
v^hitc, the innermost pearly-grey like the back; low^er rump, 
upper tail-coverts, and tail pure white; head all round jet- 
black, with a little patch of white above and below the eye ; 
hind-neck, sides of neck, and under surface of body from’ 
the lower throat downwards, pure white, including the under 
wing-coverts and a.xillaries ; bill rich coral-red, w'ith more or 
less of a blackish band in front of the angle ; tarsi and toes 
red ; a red ring round the eye ; iris dark brown, Total length, 
15-5 inches; culmen, i'45 ; wing, 11-4; tail, 4-6 ; tarsus, 1-95’. 
Adult Female — Similar to the male, but a trifle smaller, and 
with a less robust bill. Total length, 15 inches; wing, ira. 
Adult in Winter.— Lacks the black head of the summer 
plumage, the crown being white, with streaks of ashy towards 
the n.ijie, a spot in front of the eye blackish; ear-coverts 
ashy-grey ; bill and feet duller in colour. 
Youngt. Brown above, like other young Gulls. Distinguished 
from the old birds by the colour of the quills ; the primary- 
coverts and quills blackish on both w'ebs, the first primary with 
a small longitudinal mark of white near the end of the inner 
web ; the second and third with a good deal more white on 
the inner web, extending from the base to within an inch and 
a half of the tip ; the white increasing on the inner primaries 
