LARUS 827 



In habits it resembles L. ridibundus, but its flight is more 

 Tern-like, it is very graceful on the wing, and frequently 

 perches on posts and trees. It breeds in colonies, placing its 

 nest, which is constructed of sticks, sometimes intermixed with 

 moss and lichens, on trees and bushes, and in June, or early in 

 July, deposits 3, rarely 4, eggs, which are pale olivaceous green 

 or olivaceous brown with purplish grey shell -markings and 

 blackish brown surface spots and blotches, and which measure 

 about 1-95 by 1'35. 



1137. GREAT BLACK-HEADED GULL. 



LARUS ICHTHYAETUS. 



Lams ichthyaetits, Pall. Reise Russ. Reich?, ii. p. 713 (1773) ; Dresser, 

 viii. p. 369, pi. 598 ; Saunders, Cat. B. Br. Mus. xxv. p. 176 ; id. 

 Manual, p. 669 ; Blanf. F. Brit. Ind. Birds, iv. p. 299 ; Lilford, vi. 

 p. 48, pi. 21. 



Rybak, Russ. ; CharabaMa, Tartar. 



<J ad. (Volga). Head and upper neck jet black ; above and below the 

 eye a white spot ; mantle French-grey ; lower neck, upper back, tail, and 

 under parts white ; primaries white, the first with the outer web, and a bar 

 near the tip black, the rest with subterminal black bars ; secondaries French - 

 .grey broadly tipped with white ; beak yellow, crossed by a broad red 

 patch, and near the tip a black bar ; legs yellow, webs orange ; iris dark 

 brown. Ctilmen 3*4, wing 18*8, tail 7'5, tarsus 2'8 inch. In winter the 

 head is white, more or less streaked with brownish black. 



Hal. South-eastern Europe, but has been obtained in Greece, 

 Hungary, Sardinia, Switzerland (?\ and once in the south-west 

 of England ; North-east Africa in winter, south to Nubia ; 

 Palestine and Asia Minor ; Asia, east to Eastern Turkestan, 

 Mongolia, and Tibet; south to India,Burma, and Ceylon in winter. 



Frequents the sea coasts, large rivers, lakes, &c., and like its 

 .allies feeds on small fish, insects, &c. I do not find any definite 

 information respecting its breeding habits, but eggs from 

 Sarepta, on the lower Volga, are*dull stone-drab in ground- 

 colour, streaked and blotched with light and dark umber-brown, 

 and measure 2'95 by 2'8. 



1138. SAUNDERS'S GULL. 



LARUS SAUNDERSI. 



Larus saundersi (Swinhoe), P.Z.S. 1871, pp. 273, 421, pi. xxii. ; (David 

 and Oust.), Ois. Chine, p. 522 ; (Tacz.), F. O. Sib. 0. p. 1045 : Saun- 

 ders, Cat. B. Br. Mus. xxv. p. 183 ; Gavia kittlitzii, Swinhoe, Ibis, 

 1860, p. 68 (nee. Bruch) ; L. schimperi, Schlegel (nee. Bruch), Mus. 

 Pays-Bas, Lari, p. 40 (1863). 



