278 Cojitrilutions to the Ornithology of India, Sj-c. 



A fine male^ shot in breeding plumage, measured as follows : 

 length, 29-35 ; expanse, 68 ; tail from vent, 7*5 ', wing, 19'5 ; bill 

 at front, straight from forehead to point, 2*65; from gape, 3-8; 

 tarsus, 3"2j mid toe and claw, 2"55j weight, 2lhs. The irides 

 were brown ; the edges of the eylids and gape, vermillion • the bill 

 wax yellow, vermillion towards the tip, with a black bar across 

 both mandibles just beyond angle of the gonys, and the exti'eme 

 tips beyond this, orange yellow. 



980.— Larus bruimeicephalus, Jerd. 



This gull appeared to me to be comparatively rare ; I procur- 

 red it in various parts of Sindh inland, and again on the Coast, 

 but it was no where apparently common, and all mj specimens 

 exhibited signs of nonage. 



981. — Larus ridibundus, L. 



This species I have found pretty common in the larger rivers 

 of the Punjab, in the Indus, in Sindh, about most of the larger 

 inland lakes of the latter province, about the Kurraehee Harbour, 

 along the Mekran Coast and at Muscat. All the specimens pro- 

 cured were in winter plumage, except a single female shot at 

 Muscat, on the 23vd February, which had assumed the dark 

 hood, though other birds killed at the same place and on the 

 same day, as yet shewed no signs of the breeding plumage. 



There is another species, much the same size as ridibunchis, but 

 with a somewhat stronger bill and tarsus, in full plumage 

 with a black hood, and with the primaries entirely white, except 

 the outer web of the first, I mean L. melanocepJialus, Natterer, 

 which I think I once saw at Kurrachee the day I was leaving, 

 and which I fully expect will hereafter be there procured. The 

 adult in full plumage may be at onc^ recognized by the peculia- 

 rities above indicated. In regard to the young, Mr. Howard 

 Saunders remarks, (Ibis, 72, page 79) that the best distinction 

 exists in the first primary. "In the young L. melanocephalas, 

 that portion of the inner web which lies next to the shaft is 

 smoke coloured on both upper and under sides, whereas in L. ridi- 

 lundus it is white, as is also the shaft. This holds good until 

 L. melanocepJiahis has lost all colour on the inner web of the 

 first primary when the dark edging of the same feather in L. 

 Hdibnndus forms a still more marked distinction.'''' 



Unfortunately that portion of the inner web of the first pri- 

 mary which lies next the shaft, is not as a matter of fact always 

 white in ridHmndiis ; on the contraiy, in one well maxked 

 stage of the immature plumage, the whole inner web is smoke 

 colour with a white streak down the centre, leaving both the 



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