1048 LAKUS ICHTHYAETUS. 



breeding-time it has, according to Pallas, a hoarse Raven-like call like kori, kori, which it constantly utters 

 on the wing. Canon Tristram, who speaks of it as a "royal Sea-Gull, " writes that on the Sea of Galilee, 

 where it is abundant in March, it used to pass and repass up and down its short length, " making the circuit 

 of the lake close to the edge, and always within shot, as though to keep himself in exercise/' In Sindh, 

 where numbers of these birds frequent the Muncher Lake, Mr. Hume noticed that they passed much of their 

 time resting on the water. It feeds upon fish, upon which it plunges, and, according to Von Heuglin, upon 

 garbage (flesh and bones) thrown out from ships, also upon locusts, crabs, and occasionally on reptiles, birds, 

 and small mammals — partaking, therefore, of the voracious nature of all large Gulls. 



Nidification. — The great breeding-haunts of this Gull are the shores of the Caspian Sea, the delta of the 

 Volga, and certain lakes in the surrounding region. It is said to breed in colonies, its favourite locality 

 being the islands along the east coast of the Caspian. Its eggs are laid on the bare sand, and are usually two 

 in number, the time of their incubation being in June. In a fine series, in the possession of Mr. Howard 

 Saunders, from the Volga and Caspian, which I have examined, the ground-colour varies from a pale stone- 

 grey to stone, intermediate types having an olivaceous or a brownish hue. They vary in shape from a rounded 

 oval, somewhat stumpy at the large end, to a lengthened pointed oval ; one specimen is very broad and short; 

 the markings consist of large blotches and clouds of blackish sepia, in one specimen collected chiefly at the 

 large end, in others they are smaller and more evenly distributed over the whole surface ; beneath these 

 darker markings arc rather large blotches and small spots of bluish grey in some, and purplish grey in 

 others. In size they van from 3'25 by 2" 14 inches to 2'97 by 202 and 2'84 by 2" 13. 



