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island were one mass of jagged rock, and the island itself was covered with rocks, amongst which 

 were growing shrubs of myrtle, a dwarf arbutus, and a large plant, half shrub, with yellow and 

 red leaves, which my German dragoman (who skinned my birds for me, and was also a fair shot) 

 told me was called ' dragon's blood.' A tall white lily, in full bloom, was also a very conspicuous 

 object amongst the marine vegetation. From the great number of birds on the island, I expected 

 to find a rich harvest of eggs after our long and tedious sail ; and it was somewhat disappointing 

 to find empty nest after empty nest. The situations and material of which these were made 

 exactly resembled those of Larus fuscus and L. argentatus, with which I was so familiar on the 

 Farn islands off the coast of Northumberland — mere scrapings together of dry grass in some 

 niche or hollow of the rocks. At first we came to the conclusion that the nests had been robbed 

 by some hungry fisherman ; but by-and-by we came upon some nests with broken egg-shells lying 

 near them, as if the young birds had hatched and gone, and we were obliged to admit that we 

 were too late in the season. One end of the island was much higher and more precipitous than 

 the other ; and here the birds made such a clamour, that our hopes of getting eggs were again 

 raised. After a careful search we succeeded in finding five young birds in down, and six eggs. 

 Of the latter two were rotten, and the other four just on the point of hatching. In colour they 

 were like the usual variety of the eggs of Larus argentatus or L. fuscus, and our half dozen were 

 sufficient to show that they were as variable in size. Later on I noticed a pair of Gulls anxiously 

 flying about over some loose rocks close by the shore, and after some little search found a young 

 bird which must have been three weeks old. This was on the 1st day of June (European style); 

 so that it is evident that these birds must have eggs about the middle of April. On the Farn 

 Islands I have taken fresh eggs of Larus fuscus and L. argentatus, as well as of Sterna flumatilis, 

 from the 1st to the 20th of June. At Missolonghi the eggs of Sterna fluviatilis, which we 

 took during the last week of May, were most of them perfectly fresh ; and I was surprised to find 

 Larus leucophceus an earlier breeder in this locality by at least a month. In returning home we 

 landed on Oxa, another of the Echinades, and were told that the season for Gulls' eggs was early 

 in April, which, allowing for the twelve days difference in Greek time, would agree exactly with 

 our observations ; so that in this instance our information, though Greek, appeared to be correct. 

 The greater number of the birds appeared to be on the sea, between Makree and the island 

 where they breed, probably with their young, who, we concluded, could then scarcely fly, as we 

 never saw any on the wing. A great many of the mature birds, however, were continually flying 

 over the part of the island where we happened to be, protesting by their loud cries against our 

 invasion of their home. The call-note of Larus leucophceus very closely resembles the laugh of 

 our Gulls — a sort of hd-hd-hd, or more exactly hdn-hdn-hdn, the n being scarcely sounded, or 

 nasally pronounced as in French. When alarmed, their note most nearly resembles the sound of 

 the word kyeok pronounced gutturally as by a native Irishman. "When unusually excited, this 

 note is rapidly repeated, and sounds like kdk-dk-dk. They are somewhat wary birds ; and it was 

 some time before we succeeded in shooting as many as we wanted for skins. Out of five adult 

 birds three proved to be males, and two females. One of them had swallowed an eel, half of 

 which was protruding from its mouth when shot. The contents of the stomachs of the other 

 birds were principally grasshoppers. There seems to be little or no difference in the plumage of 



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