NESTING IN WESTERN INDIA. 293 



Colonel Butler obtained the eggs from the island of Astolah, on 

 the Mekran Coast, on the Cth August. The boatmen stated that the 

 nests were similar to those of the crow, and were placed in the 

 Salsola bushes on the top of the island ; he heard afterwards from 

 others that they sometimes laid upon rocks, but the nests are 

 always well hidden, and are consequently hard to find. The maximum 

 number of eggs appears to be three. They differ a good deal both 

 in shape and size, but typically they are oval in shape, often a little 

 pointed at one end. The ground-colour is a pale brown buffy-stone 

 with numerous irregular blotches and spots of various shades of brown ; 

 in dark coloured varieties the markings approach to a coffee-brown. 



The eggs vary from 2 - l to 2*45 inches in length and from 1*45 

 to 1'72 in breadth. 



98lquat.— THE SLENDER-BILLED GULL. 



Lams gelastes, LichL 



The eggs I have of the Slender-billed Gull were given to me by 

 Mr, Cumming, who took them personally somewhere near Fao in 

 Persia, he told me at the time the exact place and date, but my 

 notes have been mislaid, and I cannot quote them ; Colonel Butler, 

 through the agency of a friend, obtained them from a swamp, some 

 eight miles from Ormarra, about the end of May. 



The nests consisted of substantial pads of grass, raised a few 

 inches above the ground, on mounds of sand, and were very solidly 

 constructed. The eggs, usually three in number, are broadish ovals 

 in shape, often pointed at one end. The ground-colour is dull white, 

 rarely with a creamy tinge, and the markings, consisting of spots and 

 blotches, are burnt umber, in some cases almost black and pale 

 grey lilac. When the markings are small, they are generally 

 distributed over the whole surface of the egg ; if large, they are 

 generally collected at the big end, forming a cap or zone. 



They average 2*18 inches in length by about 3/52 in breadth. 



982.— THE CASPIAN TERN. 



Sterna caspia, Pall. 

 The Caspian Tern is not uncommon near Karachi, and occurs 

 all along the Coast as far south as Ceylon. Colonel Butler received 

 38 



