File:A history of the birds of Europe, not observed in the British Isles (1862) (14747215711).jpg

Identifier: historyofbirdsof04bree (find matches)
Title: A history of the birds of Europe, not observed in the British Isles
Year: 1862 (1860s)
Authors: Bree, Charles Robert, 1811-1886
Subjects: Birds Birds
Publisher: London, Groombridge and Sons
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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nn. KK) PALMIPEDES. Family LARID^. (Bonaparte.) Genus Larus. (Linnceus.) GREAT BLACK-HEADED GULL. Lams ichthyartos. Larus icJitliyaetos,Xema icldhyoetum,Mouette ichthyaete,Fischrnove,Ryhak,Charahalta,Great Gull, Pallas. Bonaparte. Of the Feench. Or THE Germans. Of the Eussians. Of the Tartars, Latham. Specific Character.^.—Spring jJumage. Beak large and thick;tarsi long; head and neck velvety black, with a white spot overeach eye; mantle greyish blue. Length twenty-five inches; wing,from carpus to tip, eigliteen inches and a half; tarsus threeinches; bare part above knee one inch and three quaiters; bill,from gape, three inches and five eighths; bill, from forehead,two inches and a half. This interesting bird was shot the end of May orbeginning of June, 1859, in the River Exniouth, byWilliam Pine, the boatman of W. Taylor, Esq., ofBridgewater, whence the specimen passed to the lateF. W. L. Ross, Esq., by Avhom a description will befound in the Zoologist for 1860, p. 6860, as well as
Text Appearing After Image:
GREAT liLACK-HEADED GULL. 107 ill the Annals and Magazine of Natural Historyfor December of that year. As it has not been figured as an English specimen,it will fall into the list of birds introduced into thiswork. Its appearance on our shores is quite accidental.It belongs properly to the Caspian and Red Seas,and, like other large species, occasionally flies out ofits native localities. In Europe it has been observed in the IonianIslands, in Hungary, and Switzerland. Dr. LeithAdams informs me that it is common on the Delta ofthe Indus, in the Bay of Bengal, and the IndianOcean. It is in fact an Eastern species, which occa-sionally wanders into Europe. It nests, according to Pallas, in the middle of thedowns on the sea-shore. It lays two or three eggs,which are oblong, pale grey, with a number of lightor dark brow^n spots. It feeds on fish, and it has avoice strong and deep, like that of a crow. As Mr. Rosss description was taken from the birdin the flesh, I copy it from the Zoologist

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