390 



quills white on the outer web, and brownish French-grey on the inner web, the latter becoming dark 

 brown on the edge ; all the quills broadly black at the tip ; rest of the plumage white, the underparts 

 suffused with rose-colour ; bill dark red ; iris pale straw-yellow ; edge of eyelids coral-red ; legs coral- 

 red. Total length about 16 inches, culmen 21, wing 12-0, tail 4-5, tarsus 2'\. 



Adult in winter (Egypt) . Differs but slightly from the adult in summer, the plumage being as nearly as 

 possible similar ; but the bill is orange-yellow and the legs lemon-yellow in the fresh-killed bird. 



Young in winter (Albania) . Differs from the adult in having rather more black on the primaries, in lacking 

 the rosy tinge on the breast, in having the crown and nape marked with grey, and tbe back, inner 

 secondaries, scapulars, and wing-coverts marked with ashy brown, and the tail with a terminal blackish 

 band. 



This Gull inhabits Southern Europe and North Africa, ranging as far east in Asia as Sindh, and, 

 on the West-African coast, going as far south as Senegal. It has not, so far as I can ascertain, 

 been met with further north in Europe than in Southern France and Spain. According to 

 MM. Degland and Gerbe it appears about the mouths of the Rhone, in Southern France, early in 

 spring, and breeds on some of the low sandy islands there. Crespon (Faune meridionale, ii. p. 126) 

 gives particulars of its nidification ; and it has since then, I am told, been seen there. M. Adrien 

 Lacroix says that two examples were obtained near La Nouvelle, in Aude, on the 5th April 1869, 

 and one was captured near Cette, in Herault, late in March 1857. It is now with certainty 

 known to breed in Spain. Mr. Howard Saunders stated (Ibis, 1871, p. 400) that he strongly 

 suspected that it bred at the mouth of the Guadalquivir, near San Lucar de Barrameda ; but he 

 does not appear to have obtained a Spanish-killed specimen. Lord Lilford, however, has lately 

 received a fine series of eggs from Isla Mayor, on the Guadalquivir • and I am indebted to him 

 for the loan of an unusually fine specimen to figure. I do not find any record of its occurrence 

 in Portugal ; and Professor Barboza du Bocage only includes it with a query ; but it is widely 

 distributed in the Mediterranean. No occurrence, however, is recorded from the mainland of 

 Italy by Salvadori ; but Doderlein states that a specimen was recently sent from Modena, and 

 was said to have been killed in the lower part of that province. On the coasts of Sardinia it is 

 said to be resident ; and it is much less rare than was supposed on the coasts of Sicily, there 

 being several examples in the Museum of Palermo. Mr. Howard Saunders informs me that he 

 frequently saw it between Sicily, Malta, and Gibraltar in spring. It appears, however, to be 

 rare in Malta; for Mr. C. A. Wright states (Ibis, 1864, p. 151) that, though he believes he saw 

 it on several occasions flying about in the harbour, he never succeeded in shooting one ; but there 

 are, he adds, two Malta-killed specimens in the University Museum. According to Dr. Kriiper 

 it has been obtained in Acarnania in December, and in Attica in November ; and it i said to be 

 tolerably common in the Greek archipelago. Messrs. Elwes and Buckley say (Ibis, 1870, p. 337) 

 that they shot it in the Gulf of Volo, and believe that it is common in the Levant. Dr. Cullen 

 has sent numbers of specimens both of birds and eggs from near Kustendji, in Turkey, where he 

 found it breeding numerously ; and it is said to be found not uncommonly in Southern Russia. 

 I have seen specimens from the coast of Asia Minor. Lord Lilford informs me that he saw one 



