69 
I cannot detect this difference of surface in eggs in 
my possession, taken by Mr. W. G. Tate, at Tampa, 
Florida, 9th May,1882, while the distinction in appearance 
is accurately rendered in Mr. Seebohm’s fine work. 
Tih LEP GULL. 
(Larus MInNutTws.) 
Mr. H. Saunders says the eggs of ‘Minutus’ are pear shaped. 
Mr. Seebohm says “absolutely indistinguishable from 
the Common Tern.” 
The specimens which I have, and which were taken 
in Russia, roth June, 1864, bear 20 szmilarity to eggs of 
‘Sterna,’ but, except that they are of even deeper tone, bear 
a strong similiarity to small dark specimens of Sabine’s 
Gull. They are also true Gull-shaped, not pyriform, like 
the ‘Scolopacide.’ 
SABINE’S GULL. 
( XEMA SABINI.) 
The first egg that I saw, was one in the Edinburgh 
Museum (a present from the Smithsonian Institute), in 
August, 1884. It was a dull specimen. Seven eggs in 
my possession vary little, but some are slightly longer than 
others; some have a ground tint of greener olive; and 
some of an almost ochre-olive: the blotching is of the 
usual indistinct type. They were taken by Mr. E. W. 
Nelson, at S. Michael’s, Alaska, on June g, and 13, 1880. 
An average egg is 1.75 by 1.26 inches, one zonally marked 
reaches 1.89 by 1.29 inches. 
