428 



STEENID^ 



Senegambia to Cape Colony, and is found also on nearly all the 

 great lakes of the interior, including the Victoria and Albert 

 Edward Nyanzas, Tanganyika, Shirwa and Naivascha. 



In South Africa the Grey-headed Gull has hitherto been met 

 with only on inland waters except at Walvisch Bay and on the 

 east coast from Durban northwards. It does not appear to occur 

 in Table Bay or along the west or south coasts of the Colony. 



The following are recorded localities : Cape Colony — Zoetendals 

 Vlei in Bredasdorp, November (Layard), Colesberg (Arnot) ; Natal 

 —Durban harbour, December (Bt. Mus. and Ayres), Umfolosi 

 Eiver mouth in Zululand (Watson) ; Transvaal— Lake Chrissie in 

 Ermelo district, January (Albany Mus.) ; German South-west 

 Africa — Lake Ngami, May, common (Chapman), Walvisch Bay, 

 October, rare (Andersson) ; Rhodesia — Zambesi above Victoria Falls 

 (W. L. Sclater) ; Portuguese Bast Africa — Senna, July, Delagoa 

 Bay and Inhambane (Alexander). 



Habits. — The Grey-headed Gull appears to be a more inland 

 species than Hartlaub's or the Southern Black-backed Gulls; it 

 does not, so far as I am aware, occur in Table Bay or along the 

 coast of the Colony, though occasionally found inland. Ayres 

 states that it can frequently be seen in Durban Harbour, where it 

 often alights on stakes in the water. Layard, who obtained exam- 

 ples of this species with full grey hoods in Zoetandals Vlei in 

 November, found broken eggs which he believed to belong to this 

 species, floating on the water ; these were greenish-brown profusely 

 spotted with purple and brown, and measure about 2-1 x 1'5. 

 Neumann found a breeding colony of this Gull on a little island in 

 Victoria Nyanza ; he states that the eggs, generally two or three in 

 number, were laid apiong the vegetation without any nest, and that 

 in June, when he made his visit, there were few freshly-laid eggs 

 and a good many already hatched. 



Family II. STERNID^. 



Bill straight, somewhat slender and without cere ; the two 

 mandibles of approximately equal length ; tail generally long and 

 distinctly forked ; legs small ; caeca rudimentary ; all five Garrodian 

 thigh muscles present (except Gygis). 



