AFRICTS CORAL STRAND 399 



coloured plate and measurements, and the Arabian coast is the 

 stronghold of that species. 



Nichol describes the incunabula from which his specimens 

 were collected, as " faint hollows in the sand surrounded by 

 rushes ; but in no case was there a sign of seaweed or other 

 nest-material being used." 



Presumably the white-eyed gull (Larus leucophthalmus, the 

 most abundant at Port Sudan) must also breed hereabouts. 

 Further south Sir Geoffrey Archer, K.C.M.G., H.M.'s Com- 

 missioner for British Somaliland, tells me that both species nest 

 together the white-eyed gull breeding openly on the sand flats 

 as terns do and that, the eggs being surrounded by a ring 

 of seaweed, the nest is conspicuous afar ; whereas Hemprich's 

 gull prefers to lay in cover, however slight, but provides no nest 

 at all. 



TERN {Sterna ancestheta Lesser sooty tern). The eggs 

 brought home, collected on Jinnabiyat Islands, are of a 

 brighter and warmer stone-colour than those of the gulls and 

 with smaller reddish-chocolate specks. Some examples are 

 long, almost oval, and resemble those of sandgrouse rather than 

 terns. Mr Butler regards them as belonging to the above 

 species, the parents also answering to the description of that 

 bird which Heuglin found breeding abundantly near Jeddah 

 which is close to Jinnabiyat and in the same month (June). 

 The terns' nests were placed close together in low undergrowth 

 of heathery type. A few doves and some gulls also nested on 

 Jinnabiyat. 



It is noteworthy that the observations recorded by 

 Lieutenant Nichol correspond in singular exactitude with 

 the long-preceding experiences of the three foreign naturalists 

 above cited. 



OPENBILL STORK. 



