194 THE GULLS AND TERNS. 



though they change as they grow older, it is about 

 three years before they acquire the pure grey and 

 white plumage ; so tjiere may be a good deal of 

 variety in the colour of a flock. The Herring Gull 

 breeds in Siberia. 



Occasionally you will see a gigantic Gull sitting 

 solitary on a buoy. If the hot season is approaching, 

 its whole head and upper neck will be black, but in 

 the cold season it will be pure white all over, save for 

 the pale grey mantle and a little black on the tips of 

 the wings. If it is a youth, it will be more or less 

 brown or mottled. This is the Great Black-headed 

 Gull (Larus ichthycetus), which breeds in Siberia but 

 roams all over India in the cold season. One other 

 species may be mentioned, which attracts attention at 

 once by its unusual colour. The body and tail are 

 white, but the mantle is dark brown, and the head, 

 neck and breast are more or less brown according to 

 season. This is the Sooty Gull (Larus hempnchi), 

 which meets us in crowds at Aden on the voyage 

 home, and is common, I believe, along the coast as 

 far east as Sind, but only occasionally appears in 

 Bombay harbour. 



Among the Terns one may be distinguished by its 

 size. This is the Large Sea Tern, as Jerdon calls it. 

 In the "Avifauna of British India" it is the Large 

 Crested Tern (Sterna bergii). It is pure white, with a 

 grey mantle and a silky black crest. The bill is 

 yellow and the feet black. This large Tern is very 

 common all along the coast, and has a great fancy 

 for perching on the tops of fishing stakes. There is 

 a smaller species which is very like it in colour, but 

 much paler. Jerdon calls it the Smaller Sea Tern 



