THE B^TICAN WILDERNESS MAY. 91 



of Sterna eantiaca), from which I also shot a female 

 L. gelastes.* This time, however, there was no room for 

 doubt : for the bird while in its death-throes actually 

 laid a thii;d egg in the water — a perfectly coloured and 

 developed specimen, the exact counterpart of the two in 

 the nest. Then, to make assurance doubly sure, I found 

 on skinning the first pair of gulls that the female contained 

 a fourth perfectly developed specimen of this very distinct 

 egg. This of course placed the identity of the eggs of 

 L. gelastes beyond doubt : it was, however, equally certain 

 that the first five eggs (which were dull greenish or stone- 

 colour, faintly spotted with brown) belonged to some other 

 species. Accordingly I returned to the first-named 

 islands, and at once perceived two or three pairs of small 

 black-hooded gulls : these had doubtless been overlooked 

 in the morning, mixed up as they were among numbers 

 of gull-billed terns and other birds. They would not 

 allow approach within shot, so I was obliged to risk a long 

 chance with wire-cartridge. The bird was " feathered," but 

 escaped at the moment. Two days afterwards, however, on 

 a second visit, I found it lying dead, and recognized it by 

 the jet-black hood and strong bill as Lanis melano- 

 cephalus, another of the rarer gulls, and presumably 

 the owner of one of the first two nests. Those of the 

 slender-billed gull, it should be added, were composed of 

 yellow flags, the nests of L. melanocephalus of black 

 tamarisk-stalks and other dark materials. To obtain in a 

 single morning the nests of two of the rarest of European 

 breeding birds was a measure of luck that rarely falls to 

 the lot of an ornithologist : though the discovery, made 

 a few hours later, of the breeding quarters of the 

 flamingoes, appears to carry more ornithological kudos — 

 quantum valeat. 



May 11th.— The Pratincoles are now beginning to lay — one 

 or two eggs in each nest : but subsequently we got them in 

 baskets-full. Some of these eggs when freshly-laid have a 



* A pair of the L. gelastes shot this day (together with some other 

 of our Spanish specimens) are now set up in the Hancock Museum at 

 Newcastle-on-Tyne. 



