412 



Adult (Algiers, 20th February, 1873). Resembles L. argentatus, but has the mantle darker in colour, and 

 the legs bright gamboge-yellow. Total length 26 inches, culmen 3*1, wing 18 - 5, tail 7'7, tarsus 2 - 85. 



Young. Resembles the young of L. argentatus so closely that I am unable to distinguish any character by 

 which they may always be separated. 



This Gull, though closely allied to Larus argentatus, is, I believe, a very clearly distinguishable 

 southern representative of that species, differing, as above stated, in the colour of the back and 

 legs. It inhabits the Mediterranean basin, extending into Northern Africa, and eastward into 

 Persia and Scinde, where it meets another closely allied species, Larus occidentalis. In Eastern 

 Europe it occurs far further to the north than I find it recorded in Western Europe ; for Mr. 

 Meves met with it on the Dvina, and shot one near Cholmogory; he also writes that he saw two 

 Gulls which were shot near Archangel by Mr. Iversen, and which he believes to be the present 

 species. Mr. Sabanaeff writes that " in European Russia it is met with along the lower course of 

 the Volga as far as Samarska Luka ; and, according to Eversmann, it may possibly be found in 

 the Government of Kazan. It is numerous on the coasts of the Caspian, on the islands and 

 lakes, as also along the lower course of the Ural river, and has been met with on the large lakes 

 in the Governments of Orenburg and Perm, on the east side of the Ural range. Here I found 

 it on the lakes in the south-eastern part of the Ekaterinburg district, in the Kaslinsky Zavod. 

 A colony of about a hundred pairs inhabit the Lake of Irtysch, and occupy one entire small 

 rocky island during the breeding-season. The young of the previous year do not breed, but live 

 apart on other islands. They arrive very early, usually about the beginning of April or the end 

 of March, and immediately take possession of their island. The young are fledged about the end 

 of July ; as soon as hatched and the down is dry, they run, and next day take to the water. They 

 pass the night on the island where they were hatched, and generally keep to the same lake, 

 seldom visiting any neighbouring sheet of water before they migrate. On the islands of the 

 Caspian they breed by thousands, placing their eggs on the ground, on a little dry grass which 

 they collect together. During the breeding-season the Ural Cossacks visit the islands and collect 

 boat-loads of eggs, which they boil and store away for future consumption." 



This species appears to be the only Herring-Gull found in the Mediterranean during the 

 summer season ; and the various writers on the ornithology of the countries bordering that sea 

 generally record it as common both then and in the winter. Mr. E. Cavendish Taylor informs 

 me that, according to his experience, " it is extremely common in the eastern parts of the Medi- 

 terranean, becoming gradually less abundant as we go westward. In the Bosphorus it swarms, 

 and is a common species all round the coasts of Italy and Sicily." Lindermayer speaks of it as 

 being very common in Greece. According to Doderlein it is abundant along the Sicilian coast, 

 especially in winter, and probably nests in the wilder parts of that island and of Calabria. It is 

 also resident and abundant in Sardinia. Under the name of L. argentatus Savi records its 

 occurrence on the coast of Tuscany, and states that it nests in great numbers on the islands of 

 the Mediterranean. Von Nordmann also, speaking of it as L. argentatus, states that it is not 

 rare on the Black Sea. It is probable that during the winter L. argentatus is nearly as common 

 as L. leucophaeus in the Mediterranean ; but as the two species have so generally been confused, 

 it is difficult to speak with any degree of certainty. Canon Tristram informs me that a 



