292 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1891. 



uncovered, but the moment I would show myself, the bird would 

 give a few vigorous pecks, and disappear almost instantaneously, 

 and the eg^s would be covered ; only once did I succeed in erettino: the 

 bird to leave the egg (for there was only one, and that was apparently 

 just laid) uncovered. The nest was within five yards of the bank, 

 and she dived as soon as she saw me, but even as I looked the e»" 

 disappeared I waded out to the nest, and found that the egg 

 had been covered as usual ; the bird had simply dived and returned 

 with only its beak above water, and silently but effectually covered 

 her egg ; after this I discontinued my experiments. 



The eggs are longish-ovals, usually pointed at both ends, but 

 they are subject to much variation. They are slightly chalky, but 

 fairly close in texture. 



They average 1*4 inches in length by barely an inch in breadth. 



981/er.— HEMPRICH'S GULL. 



Lanes hemprichi, Bonaj). 



Although the eggs of the Gulls and Terns are well represented in 

 my collection, yet personally I know very little of their breeding 

 habits. Mr. Cumming, the present Curator of the Frere Hall Museum, 

 knows more about the breeding of the Indian Gulls and Terns than 

 any man living, but he has placed little or nothing on record, and was 

 too busy to respond to an appeal I made to him for information. I 

 have had therefore to fall back on Colonel Butler, who did so much 

 in his time for Indian Ornithology and Oology. 



Hcmprich's Gull is common in Karachi harbour and all along 

 the Mekran Coast. It is one of the commonest Gulls about Aden, 

 and breeds quite close, but I have not been able to get away to search 

 for eggs, and I could not induce anyone else to do so. 



The Arabs here are most indolent and will not do anything that 

 they are unaccustomed to ; for instance, I once shot a black-necked 

 Grebe (Pon'iceps nigricollis) and, although there was a fisherman in 

 his boat within fifty yards, he refused to pick it up for me, notwith- 

 standing that I offered him a rupee to do so, and I had no alternative 

 but to strip and fetch it myself, which was rather a risky thing to 

 do, as the sun was high, and sharks by no means unknown, but the 

 specimen was worth running some risk for. 



