ou LARUS MELANOCEPHALUS. 
LARUS MELANOCEPHALUS, Natterer. 
[§ 4544. Zwo.—* Grece.”” From Herr Méschler, 1862 und 
1866. — 
[§ 4545. 7wo—From Herr Méschler, through Mr. Norgate, 
1869. 
The country assigned for the first two of the above four eggs is probably 
wrong, for there is no evidence that this species has been found to breed in 
Greece. The last two were most likely received by Herr Méschler from 
Herr von Gonzenbach, who is believed to have found it breeding near 
Smyrna. | 
[§ 4546. Fifty.—Islets at the mouth of the Meander, Asia 
Minor, June, 1904. From Mr. F. C. Selous. 
Through the kind intervention of Mr. Dresser, this beautiful series of eggs 
was most generously given to me by Mr. Selous, who at the same time wrote 
to me to the effect that on the 26th of May, 1901, he went with Mr. Hodder, 
the superintendent of a liquorice-factory at Sochia (which I suppose to be the 
Soke of the maps), to some islands in the sea at the mouth of the Meander in 
Asia Minor. “There was a large colony of Adriatic Gulls, a few pairs of 
Yellow-legged Herring-Gulls (with young, as they nest in April), besides 
Pratincoles, Kentish Plovers, and an odd pair of Avosets; but no Slender- 
billed Gulls, whose eggs I have taken in Southern Spain. The Adriatic Gulls 
were only beginning to lay, and we found but a few nests, with one and two 
eggs. We asked the fishermen to take some for us later, and sent down for 
them on the 10th of June, when we got a good series, but no clutches, as the 
men go round every day and take them to eat, and I think will drive away 
the birds from these islands before long, as the birds do not get much chance 
to hatch off. The eggs I am sending to you were sent to me last summer by 
Mr. Hodder, who thought I might like to have some more. He went down 
to the mouth of the Meander about the middle of June, 1904, and got them 
from the fishermen. You will see that, as a rule, they do not at all resemble 
those of the Slender-billed Gull. Some, however, which are whitish or white 
in ground-colour, are indistinguishable from eggs of that species. The 
Adriatic Gull used to breed in large colonies not long ago at the salt-lagoons 
near Smyrna; but I think they have now left that district as a breeding- 
station, at least I could not find them, though I have heen there several 
times.” ] 
