NOTES. 503 
the darker occidentalis), could have failed to be vividly im- 
pressed with the extreme darkness, almost slaty blackness, of 
this very typical specimen. 
Few people have oftener traversed the Bay of Bengal intent 
en ornithology than Davison and myself, but neither of us have 
ever yet met with a Gull of the marinus and fuscus types. I have, 
moreover, very carefully worked the greater part of the coasts 
from Gwader toCape Comorin, including the Laceadives. We have 
both worked the Andamans and Nicobars, he for many months, 
and again he has searched the coasts very carefully nearly from 
Rangoon to Singapore, but neither of us have ever seen an 
adult specimen of /fuscus. As to the young, of course, we 
cannot speak positively ; these might escape notice on the wing, 
but the adult certainly could not. 
It seems to me not at all impossible that some one gave 
‘Dr. Jerdon this English or European skin, and that he sent it 
unticketed, as was his common practice (more than half the 
birds he sent to Mr. Blyth and me had no tickets) along with 
other specimens obtained in the Bay of Bengal, and that a 
mistake thus occurred. 
Most certainly, in my opinion, the occurrence of L. fuscus 
within our limits requires to be further verified. No doubt they 
are said to be common enough in the Red Sea, but I have never 
yet seen, or been able to verify, the occurrence of one on this 
side of Aden, and I hope that all Indian ornithologists, who may 
have the opportunity, will endeavour to help me in clearing up 
this matter. 
When speaking of Larus fuscus, I may note that Mr. Blan- 
ford says of four specimens of a Gull which he obtained at 
Gwader:—“ Three are in young plumage, and may be either 
fuscus, or argentatus, var leucopheus; the fourth is a young 
female assuming the summer plumage, and both Mr. Howard 
Saunders and Mr. Dresser who have very carefully and re- 
peatedly examined it, have no doubt of its really belonging to 
L. fuscus. Mr. Hume referred this bird from the same locality 
to L. occidentalis, because the basal portion of the primaries is 
grey or greyish; but Mr. Howard Saunders informs me that this 
is not a safe character except—if I understand him rightly— 
in full summer plumage. It follows that Dr. Jerdon and Mr. 
Blyth were probably right in including this species in the 
Indian fauna.” i 
Now I will say nothing about the particular specimen 
examined by Messrs. Sharpe and Dresser, but it is simply absurd 
to tell me that the thirty odd specimens that I obtained at 
Kurrachee and along the Mekran Coast, at the end of February, 
when all the Gulls were in, or getting into, full summer plumage, 
were Larus fuseus. 
Q 2 
