302 LAHID.E. 



white, often yellow or brownish in adults : in the young the iris is 

 brown, bill yellowish orange, dusky at the tip, legs and feet 

 orange, the web duller. 



Length about 17 ; tail 5'25 ; wing 13'5 ; tarsus 2 ; bill from 

 gape 2-4. 



Distribution. In winter this Gull is found commonly about the 

 coasts of India, Ceylon, and Burma, also on the larger rivers and 

 large marshes, tanks, &c. Though common in Assam, Mauipur, 

 and Burma, it has not been met with farther east ; and it has not 

 been often recorded west of Sind, though Barnes found it plenti- 

 fully at Aden. It breeds in Central Asia. 



Fig. 69. Head of L. brunndcephalus in breeding-plumage, f . 



Habits, $c. Like other Gulls this species occurs more or less 

 gregariously, and may be seen resting on the water, or ilying about 

 and feeding on fish or offal. It has been observed breeding by 

 Dr. Leith Adams about lakes in Ladak, and Dr. Henderson found 

 it abundant in the breeding-season (July) on a stream running 

 into the Paugong Lake at 15,000 feet, but the nest and eggs have 

 not been described. 



Larus minutus is said by Irby (Ibis, 1861, p. 246) to have been 

 once shot by him in January 1859 near Jehaugerabad, Oudh, but 

 as neither Jerdon nor Hume has admitted the bird as Indian, the 

 latter suspecting some mistake*, and as no other instance of this 

 Gull's occurrence in India is known, I do not enumerate it amongst 

 Indian species. It is one of the Gulls with head black in summer 

 and white in winter, and if found it may be recognized by its small 

 size (wing 8*75 only) and by all the quills in adults being grey 

 \i ith white tips. 



1492. Larus hemprichi. The Scoty Gull. 



Adelarus hemprichii, Bruch, Jour. f. Orn. 1853, p. 106. 



Larus hemprichii, Hume, 8. F. i, pp. 45, 279; iv, p. 414; Blanf. 

 Eastern Persia, ii, p. 292 ; Butler 8f Hume, S. F. v, p. 296 ; Hume, 

 Cat. no. 981 ter ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 46 ; Gates in Hume's 

 N. 8f E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 293 j Saunders, Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 221. 



Coloration. In the breeding-season the head all round is dark 



* I am assured by Col. Irby that he knew the species well and identified 

 it without doubt. 



