THE BLACK-HEADED HULL. 
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calm, they will rise up in the air, spirally, chattering all the 
while to each other in the most sprightly manner, their 
notes at such times resembling the singing of a hen, but far 
louder, changing often into a haw , ha, ha, ha , haw! the 
last syllable lengthened out like the excessive laugh of a 
negro. When mounting and mingling together, like motes 
in the sunbeams, their black heads and wing-tips, and snow- 
white plumage, give them a very beautiful appearance. 
After gaining an immense height, they all move off, with 
one consent, in a direct line towards the point of their 
destination. 
This bird breeds in the marshes. The eggs are three in 
number, of a dun clay colour, thinly marked with small, 
irregular touches of a pale purple, and pale brown ; some 
are of a deeper dun, with larger marks, and less tapering 
than others ; the egg measures two inches and a quarter by 
one inch and a half. 
The Black-Heads frequently penetrate into the interior, 
especially as far as Philadelphia; but they seem to prefer 
the neighbourhood of the coast for the purpose of breeding. 
They retire southward early in autumn. 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES. 
This species is found in every part of Russia and Siberia, 
and even in Kamtschatka. They are seen throughout the 
winter at Aleppo, in great numbers, and so tame, that the 
women are said to call them from the terraces of their 
