so that he did not consider himself justified at the time
of writing (1884) in admitting it as a British bird.
With regard to the second reported occurrence of this
Gull in England, I received a letter from Mr. George
Smith, naturalist of Great Yarmouth, with date of
December 26, 1886, from which I quote verbatim:—
" I have got, shot to-day on Breydon, the first British
adult specimen of the Mediterranean Black-headed Gull."
Mr. G. Smith soon after this letter sent me a coloured
sketch of this specimen; this left no doubt in my mind
that it had been taken from, and fairly represented, an
adult specimen of the present species in winter plumage.
This bird was examined " in the flesh " by Mr. J. II.
Gurney, Jun., Mr. Thomas Southwell, and Major
Feilden ; is recorded by Mr. G. Smith in the ' Zoologist '
for 1887, p. 69, and was exhibited by Mr. II. Saunders
at a meeting of the Zoological Society on January 18,
1887. I have met with this Gull locally throughout
the Mediterranean, but not in any abundance to the
westward of Leghorn. It was common in the bay of
Naples, on the east coast of Sicily, and in the harbour of
Valetta, Malta, in January, February, and March,
abundant during the winter at Corfu, and, I find in my
notes on the birds of Cyprus *, " We often saw, and
more often heard, these beautiful Gulls passing high
over the neighbourhood of Larnaca between April 16
and 21, 1875, but it was not till the 22nd, the morning
after our arrival off Famagusta, that we came to close
quarters with this species on the coasts of Cyprus.
Here we found a flock of certainly some thousands,
* Ibis, July 1889, p. 348.