MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 207 



None of the 7 nests I found between" May 14th antV29th contained more 

 than 3 eggs, and the eggs in all were fresh. One bird began laying on the 

 ^Ist May. Nine eggs in my possession^'measiire "8 x '6 and' are white 

 speckled with brown but the distribution of the spots varies a good deal. 

 Some of the eggs have a regular zone of small spots round the larger 

 end and spotted very sparingly elsewhere/ others are spotted uniformly 



J. P. COOK. 



Thayetmyo. X-ith June 1011. 



No. XXVIII.— FALCON AND GULLS, 



The other evening while on the harbour, I [noticed a large number of 

 gulls of the two common kinds here (the sooty and the small grey) flying 

 in a state of great excitement. 



Thinking they were over a shoal of hsh, I put a telescope on to them 

 and was surprised to see that the cause of the excitement was a falcon 

 of the kind we know here as one that chases the wild pigeons. I suppose 

 it is either the peregrine or laggar. One of these birds was attacking a 

 grey gull with the utmost fury and drove it again and again into the 

 water, where it hovered over the gull with its talons extended as if about 

 to alight on it. Then the whole army of gulls would sweep down and 

 carry away the falcon in the rush : the gull that was the object of the 

 falcon's attentions would then rise and endeavour to join its companions 

 and escape but the falcon extricating itself from the crowd repeated his 

 attacks several times always driving the gull into the water whence he 

 seemed unable to drag it. The gulls by repeated rushes eventually got 

 their friend safely oflf and I saw the falcon fly straight away over the 

 harbour to Shaik Othman. The two points that impressed one were the 

 state of utter fatigue and weakness to which the falcon had reduced the 

 gull by his pursuit,, though one knows the great strength and wing endur- 

 ance power of the gulls. I suspect that being overdriven for pace produced 

 the distress. The second point was the unerring manner in which the 

 falcon, when he came out of the scrimmage of gulls went straight for his 

 victims seeming to know exactly where he shoidd find it. I have seen the 

 same thing when these falcons chase pigeons : their pursuit is relentless, 

 and I should imagine generally successful ; the gull would certainly have 

 been killed had his companions not swept down on the falcon in the way 

 they did and had he not been able to take to the water. Is not this a very 

 uncommon circumstance ? I should be glad to know, if such an attack has 

 previously been observed. 



S. E. PRALL, Lt.-Col., i.m.s. 

 Aden, August 1911, 



