LARUS 831 



Mesopotamia, the Persian Gulf, and Makran coasts of Baluchi- 

 stan and Sind. 



Is essentially a sea bird, being seldom found inland except 

 some short way up the larger rivers. It feeds on small fish and 

 insects of various kinds. For breeding purposes it selects a 

 sand-bank or the dry portions of a marsh or an island in a 

 lagoon, where it nests in colonies. I found it nesting in May 

 in the marismas of the Guadalquivir, on the dried mud of an 

 island in the lagoon, constructing a somewhat loosely built nest 

 of sticks and a few Flamingoes' feathers, the number of eggs 

 being 3, sometimes only 2. These were white in ground-colour, 

 with a faint rosy blush when fresh, with pale inky grey shell- 

 markings and black or blackish brown surface spots and 

 blotches, some being only sparingly marked, whereas others are 

 very boldly and profusely blotched, chiefly at the larger end. 

 In size they measure about 2*95 by T53. 



1142. AUDOUIN'S GULL. 

 LARUS AUDOUINI. 



Larus audouini, Payraudean, Ann. Sc. Nat. viii. p. 462 (1826) ; Gould, 

 B. of E. v. pi. 438 ; Dresser, viii. p. 395, pi. 601, fig. 1 ; Saimders, 

 Cat. B. Br. Mus. xxv. p. 271. 



Galliano corso, Ital. 



# ad. (Toro). Head, tail, and entire under parts white ; mantle and 

 rump pearl-grey, the lower hind neck rather paler ; first two primaries 

 black, with a large white spot near the tip of the inner web, the rest 

 pearl-grey, black towards the tip, and tipped with white ; under parts 

 with a faint rose tinge in the freshly killed bird ; bill coral-red with a 

 black band in front of the angle, the tip yellow ; legs olive-green ; iris 

 hazel ; edge of the eyelids coral-red. Culmen 2'35, wing 15'7, tail 6*5, 

 tarsus 2 '4 inch. Sexes alike. 



Hal. The western Mediterranean islands, rarer on the coasts 

 of the mainland, occurring as far west as the Straits of Gibraltar, 

 and sometimes as far east as the Greek Archipelago. 



In habits it appears to resemble the Herring-Gull, and is 

 essentially a sea bird, breeding on the rocks of the small islands 

 in colonies apart from its congeners, and depositing 1 or 2 

 eggs, which are stone-buff with a slight olivaceous tinge, with 

 inky grey shell-markings and blackish surface spots and blotches, 

 and measure about 2 '5 by T73. 



