168 NATURAL HISTORY. 



the Lesser Herring-gull as occurring: "in immense numbers all 

 along the coast ; ';' but I have never seen a really large flock of these 

 birds here myself. Probably he referred more particularly to the 

 Sind Coast. The Black-headed, Brown-headed, and Laughing Gulls 

 occur, especially in the winter ; the two latter go far up the 

 creeks, and may sometimes be seen over rivers and tanks. The 

 Sooty-gull (Larus hemprichi) occurs, but is not common. Larus 

 gelastes, the Rosy-gull, may be looked for. I have not seen it here 

 as yet. 



Gulls indeed are much less numerous on this coast than the next 

 group, the Terns. On account of the comparatively small area of 

 permanent fresh water in the Konkan, the Marsh and River Terns are 

 not very numerous ; but we have in moderate numbers the Caspian, 

 Gull-billed, and Whiskered Terns ; and probably the large River Tern 

 and Javan or Black-bellied Tern will be found hereafter, at least as 

 stragglers. 



A small Tern very common on creeks appears to be Sterna 

 miauta ; it may be Hume's Sterna saundersi^ but I have a dislike to 

 shooting these birds (which are very confiding, and often attach them- 

 selves to a boat and follow it for many hours), and cannot be sure 

 of species not closely examined. 



Thalasseus cristatus and bengalensis are common. 



The Sooty-tern occurs, but is not very common. On inspecting 

 after the south-west monsoon a beacon-tower on an exposed reef, 

 I found in its chamber the remains, apparently, of a Sooty-tern, 

 entangled with those of a banded Sea-snake about 20 inches long. 

 It must be supposed that the Tern had caught the snake aid 

 carried him there to eat him, but been bitten by his victim, who was 

 probably too much injured by the bird's beak to leave the spot. 

 At the best, Sea-snakes are very slow movers out of water, t do not 

 think however that our Gulls and Terns habitually attack Sea-snakes. 

 Perhaps Larus ichthyattus may. Some of the large European Gulls 

 would eat a baby if they found him unprotected. It was also very 

 singular that the Tern should have carried his prey inside the tower. 

 I can only account for the whole affair by supposing the bird was 

 desperate from hunger in foul-weather. 



The curious Skimmer [Rliynchops) does not occur here. 



A white tropic-bird, or "Boatswain-bird," is not uncommon. It is 

 probably Phaeton candidus or Phaeton ceiherius. It gets the name 

 of li Boatswain ' from the fancied resemblance of its long pointed 



