Page:The Common Birds of Bombay.djvu/209

Rh it again by the head. This manoeuvre is followed by the magical disappearance of the fish. It is a pretty sight to watch a flock of Terns following a shoal of little fishes with clamorous glee, dropping one after another with a splash and rising again and chasing each other, as if they had a stock of breath like the widow's cruse of oil. Now all this is impossible to a Gull. It is a tramp, following ships for the offal and scraps that may be thrown overboard, picking up dead and sickly fishes, helping itself, in short, to anything that floats, but never dipping below the surface of the water. This is the difference between a Gull and a Tern, and to me it seems of more consequence than the number of feathers in the tail, or the bristles about the nose.

The commonest Gull on our coast is, I think, the Brown-headed Gull (Larus brunneicephalus), but it is not easily distinguished on the wing from the Laughing Gull (L. ridibundus), which is also plentiful. Both birds are pearl-grey on the mantle and pure white on the head, neck, body and tail. Before they leave us in the hot season (for they breed in Europe or Central Asia) their heads become dark brown or sepia. Their bills and feet are red. In young or youngish birds the tail is edged with black. The points of the wings are always black, with a broad white band across them, and the principal difference between the Brown-headed and the Laughing Gulls is in the shape of this white band. Another common species is the Herring Gull (Larus affinis—L. fuscus in Jerdon), a larger bird, with a slate-coloured mantle. Its bill and feet are yellow, and it does not put on a brown cap in winter. Young birds are brown, and