304 



disappears generally in dried skins ; mantle pearl-grey, coverts 

 and quills a little darker; outer primary -co verts and greater part 

 of first four primaries white ; on 1st primary the outer web, tip and 

 edge of inner web, on the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th the tip, a broad inner 

 border and a small portion, varying in amount, of the outer border 

 are black ; the 4th is grey on the inner web near the shaft, the 

 5th and 6th on both webs, they also having black ends ; 7th and 

 later primaries grey like secondaries. 



There is apparently no change in winter. Young birds have 

 some brown on the mantle, retained longest on the wing-coverts 

 and tertiaries ; the black portions of the primaries occupy more of 

 the feathers than in adults, and there is a dark brown terminal 

 band to the tail. 



Bill deep red ; eyelids bright red, irides pale yellow ; lesjs and 

 feet deep red (Hume). Immature birds have bill, legs, and feet 

 pale orange. 



Length of males 18; tail 4-6; wing 12 ; tarsus 2 ; bill from 

 gape 2-5. Females are rather smaller, wing 11. 



Distribution. Mediterranean, Black Sea, Caspian, Red Sea, and 

 Persian Gulf; west coast of Africa as far south as Senegambia, 

 and in winter the coasts of Baluchistan and Sind, where this Gull 

 is very common at that season. 



Habits, <Sfc. A sea-bird, not usually found on fresh waters. At 

 Karachi and along the Makran coast, in winter, it occurs in vast 

 flocks, that generally rest on shore in the middle of the day, but 

 Butler found that it had almost disappeared in May. He, how- 

 ever, found this species breeding in a salt swamp nearHormara, on 

 the Makran coast, and he obtained eggs at the end of July. They 

 were laid, usually three in each nest, on pads of seaweed, were as a 

 rule dull whitish, with numerous spots and blotches of dark brown 

 and greyish lilac, and measured about 2-18 by 1'52.. 



1494. Lams affinis. The Dark-backed Herring-Gull. 



Lams fuscus. apud Blyth, J. A. S. B. xvi, p. 792 ; id. Cat., p. 288, 



pt. ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 830 ; Blyth, Ibis, 1867, pp. 176, 314 ; 



Blanf. Eastern Persia, ii, p. 290 ; nee Linn, (cotif. Hume, S. F. iv, 



p. 603). 

 Larus affinis, Reinhardt, Vidensk. Meddel. 1853, p. 78 ; Saundera, 



P.Z.S. 1878, p. 171 : Hume, S. F. vii, p. 403; id. Cat. no. 978 



ter ; Vidal, S. F. ix, p. 94 ; Butler, ibid. p. 439 ; Barnes, Birds 



Bom. p. 424 ; Saunders, Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 254. 

 Larus fuscescens, Hayes Lloyd, Ibis, 1873, p. 420. 

 Larus occidentalis, apud Hume, 8. F. i, p. 273 ; ii, p. 50 ; iv ; pp. 414, 



418. 



Coloration. Head and neck all round, rump, tail, and whole 

 under surface, with wing-lining, white; mantle slate-grey; all 

 quills and longer scapulars with w r hite tips, and the first 6 to 8 

 primaries partly black ; on the first primary the black extends 

 from the coverts, with the exception of a grey wedge on the inner 

 \veb, to within about 2-5 in. of the tip, then comes a broad white 



