76 SLENDER-BILLED GULL. 



inner border of the first four, and end of the fifth and sixth 

 primaries black. Mr. Tristram's label says, "Irides white, with a 

 small sulphur ring; tarsi reddish orange; beak dark carmine; lower 

 plumage rich rose." And in a private note to me he further adds, 

 ^'Observe the rich rosy tint in L. tenuirostris. It is very much 

 faded, but was a brilliant salmon-colour, and the beak and legs 

 brilliant." 



According to Heuglin, "Vogel Nord-Ost Africas," — "Riippell says 

 this Gull appears in the winter and spring most frequently in meadows 

 at Cairo, where it feeds on grasshoppers. Taylor has even met with 

 it at Quench, in Upper Egypt. I know this species only as an 

 inhabitant of lagunes and the sea shore, and it is in the winter 

 seen in large flocks at Rosetti, Damietta, and Suez; on the canals 

 northwards from the last named town, as well as on the low strand 

 and in small towns with harbours on the coasts of Arabia. During 

 summer I have never observed this bird on the Red Sea. In May 

 and June, on the other hand, we saw large flocks on the Elka and 

 Menzaleh lakes. These lagunes are connected with the sea, and 

 receive a continual supply of water. The level water is scarcely 

 higher than that of the sea, but the flow tide and the north-west 

 wind raise a weak stream towards the sea. Then the canals and back- 

 waters swarm with fish, for which the Slender-bill is content to lay in 

 wait by hundreds. They will swim round the said localities, over 

 which they wander, croaking, and at short intervals dart from high 

 in the air, always with great dexterity, right down upon their prey. 



"My former supposition that Larus gelastes increases in the lagunes 

 of the Nile Delta is confirmed. This bird occurs in Tripoli, Tunis, 

 Algeria, Senegal, Spain, Malta, Sicily, south of France, Italian coasts, 

 Grecian Archipelago, Palestine, Black and Caspian Seas, lower 

 Danubian countries, Oude (Irby,) India (Vienna Museum)." 



According to Degland, individuals before the age of two years or 

 after the second autumnal moult, have the head, neck, and lower 

 parts of the body white; upper parts ash, with the wing coverts 

 brown russet, bordered with tints more clear; the four first primaries 

 white, bordered and terminated with brown black, the others bordered 

 with ash and tipped with white; tail white, terminated by a trans- 

 verse brown band, and a border of russet grey. 



Heuglin ("Nord-Ost Africas") says: — "In specimens of about 

 the second year the beak is flesh colour, with a touch of yellow or 

 grey; feet a light ochre yellow; ring round the eye citron yellow. 

 Iris pearl grey, sometimes tending to yellowish or reddish. Old 

 birds, perfectly coloured, have sometimes dark, almost blackish web 

 membranes." 



