314 LARUS MINUTUS. 
= ran @) = eat 39 ies —y 
[§ 4517. Zwo—‘Smyrna, 1858.) From Herr von Gonzen- 
bach, through Dr. Balda- 
[§ 4518. One—*“Smyrna,” 1859.) mus, 1561. 
The Doctor wrote that these were collected in the lagoons twenty English 
miles from Smyrna, where this species as well as Larus melanocephalus and 
Sterna anglica bred—the last in great numbers. He added that he had received 
with them beautiful specimens of the bird in full breeding-plumage; but for all 
that I do not find that Herr von Gonzenbach mentions Larus minutus as 
occurring near Smyrna in the account of his excursions to the breeding-places 
of Sterna aud Larus (Journ. fiir Orn. 1859, pp. 308-316, 893-398). | 
[§ 4519. One.—Kustendje, Bulgaria, 5 June, 1866. “ With 
2 
L 
[§ 4521. Zhree. \ 
§ 4520. Three. 
skin of bird.” From Dr. W. H. Cullen. 
Writing to me from Kustendje on the 15th of October, 1866, Dr. Cullen said 
he was sending some things to me “and what I believe will be the most 
interesting of all, a specimen of Larus minutus, shot on rising frum the ground 
where was found the accompanying egg.” In due time the box arrived. The 
skin of Zarns minutus was indubitable, and it had a label tied to it—“Shct, 
June 5, 1866, on nest and under it was found the egg enclosed separately,” 
while the egg was in a box inscribed “ Egg taken with bird, Kustendje, June 5, 
1866.” The fact he also recorded in ‘The Ibis’ for 1867 (p. 248). Six years 
before Mr. Hudle-ton had seen large flocks of this species at Kustendje towards 
the end of April, but believed that they did not stay to breed there (Ibis, 1861, 
pp. 362, 563). | 
| Dubno, Ladoga, 3 June, 1869. From Herr 
Meves, through Mr. Dresser. 
Mr. Dresser exhibited some of these eggs at a meeting of the Zoological 
Society (Proc. Zool. Soc. 1869, p. 530), and Herr Meves gave a long accou..t of 
them in the Swedish Academy’s ‘ ifversigt’ (1871, pp. 785, 786), in which he 
says that he found this species in great numbers on the canal between 
Schliisselburg and Novaja Ladoga. ‘Near the village of Dubno at the 
beginning of June the birds frequented some almost floating islands formed of 
water-plants aud mud, often so slight that one could not go upon them without 
risk, and there the birds were breeding in plenty. The nests were both in the 
middle and at the edge of the islands, and built of rushes, grass-stalks, and 
other plants, some with much and some with very little material, and were 
from 15 to 18 centimétres in diameter. Sterna hirundo was also breeding at 
the same place, and its eggs having some likeness to those of the Gull, I was 
at first afraid that I should not be able to distinguish between them; but luckily 
on the first day I shot a hen Gull with an egg ready to be laid, and saw that 
