166 Capt. C. C. Abbott on the Birds of the Falkland Islands. 



led me at one time to think that they belonged to different 

 species. 



63. Larus roseiventris (Gould). (Pink-breasted Gull.) 

 This Gull is migratory, arriving in East-Falkland Harbour 



about July 25th, almost to a day, though occasional stragglers 

 occur all the year round. It breeds in the beginning of December 

 in separate communities on a point of the coast or adjacent 

 island. The nests are placed very thickly together, and each 

 contains two, or sometimes three eggs. 



I was once inclined to think the white-headed bird in the 

 plumage originally described by Mr. Gould as Gavia roseiventris 

 was of a different species, but I have now altered my opinion, 

 and consider it to be merely the young of the Pink-breasted 

 Gull in the first year's plumage. 



On the 24th of May I shot a Pink-breasted Gull, with a white 

 head clouded with dusky, at Port Louis. The plumage of this 

 bird was very perfect. On the 7th of July, however, I shot one 

 of the same species ; the body plumage was perfect, but the head 

 feathers were in a state of transition from white to black. Most 

 of the black feathers being in the quill, and the specimen being 

 imperfect, I did not preserve it. 



64. Sterna cassinii, Sclater. (Tern.) 



The Tern arrives in East Falkland at the end of July, very 

 shortly after the Pink-breasted Gull. It breeds in communities 

 on the sea-lbeach, but also occasionally inland, in pairs, laying two 

 (sometimes three) eggs in each nest. It disappears about the end 

 of March. 



65. Phalacrocorax carunculatus (Gm.). (King-Shag.) 

 This Shag is common along the coast of the Falkland Islands 



all the year round. It breeds in the rookeries of the Rock- 

 hopper Penguin [Eudyptes nigrivestis) , as I have already men- 

 tioned in this Journal (Ibis, 1860, p. 338), The Cormorants' 

 nests are not placed together, but here and there, all over tlie 

 rookery, amongst the Penguins'. They are composed of sea-weed 

 and mud, and are raised about 4 or 5 inches from the ground. 

 The eggs are three in number, of a dirty white, with a strong tinge 

 of green inside, and are deposited in the middle of November, 



