2^70 Contributions to the Ornitliology of India, ^c. 



the lores are g-reyish white ; the feathers narrowly dark centred ; 

 the cheeks, ear coverts, and nape are white, more or less 

 ting-ed with fulvous or buify, with very narrow dark brown 

 shaft stripes ; the chin and throat, white ; the feathers of the 

 base of the neck all round and the breast white, tinged in 

 places fulvous, in places slig'htly rufescent, with a broad dark 

 brown subterminal tranverse band; the sides, flanks, lower 

 tail coverts, white, with broad brown transverse bars, which 

 in some of the lower tail coverts have a slightly rufescent 

 aureola ; the abdomen and vent are white, but on the sides of 

 the abdomen, there are faint traces of barrings similar to 

 those of the breast and flanks. The axillaries broadly barred, 

 with a somewhat greyish brown and greyish white ; the tibial 

 feathers, pure brown. I hope soon to have other specimens from 

 the neighbourhood of Kurrachee and to ascertain whether this 

 bird is really S. parasiticus or a new species S. asiaticus. 



978 S^'s.— Larus Argentatus, Briin, 



The herring-gull was very abundant about all the larger 

 lakes in Sindh. I have met with it also occasionally in all the 

 larger rivers of the Punjab, in the Kurrachee Harbour, along the 

 Mekran Coast, at Muscat, and again between Kurrachee and 

 Bombay. Years ago I pointed out that this species occurred in 

 Upper India, having obtained specimens from the Nujjufghur 

 jheel, in the Delhi district, at the Sambhur lake, and in one or 

 two other localities. So far as I have yet been able to ascertain, 

 Larus fitscus does not occur in India. A young bird given me 

 by Dr. Jerdon as the young of fuscus, turns out to be the 

 young of this species, and I have no doubt that the adult speci- 

 men which Mr. Blyth mentioned. Dr. Jerdon^s sending from 

 the Coromandel Coast was not fuscus, but the species I shall 

 next treat of, occidentalis ; fuscus, I may notice, with marinus 

 and dominicanus belong to a sub-division of the larger gulls 

 which have the primaries black to their bases, while argentatus 

 and the species next following, have the primaries grey or greyish 

 white towards their bases. 



The herring-gull varies a good deal in size, and a number of 

 specimens measured in the flesh, gave the following results : 

 length, 23 to 35" 75; expanse, 58 to 60; wing, 16-75 to 18; 

 tarsus, 2*5 to 2'78; bill at front, 1*9 to 2*35; from anterior 

 margin of nares to tip, 0*9 to 1-07; mid toe and claw, 2*25 to 

 2-6 ; weight, 1 lb. 12 oz. to 2 lb. 6 oz. 



As a rule the males are larger than the females, but this does 

 not invariabli/ hold good, as many males will be found smaller 

 than many females^ though the largest birds of all are always 

 males. 



