938 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXVH1. 
black mantle ot these birds at once drew attention. whUe as they dipped for food 
their bright lemon-coloured legs were easily seen. 
There are no other records of this species, which is probably a winter visitor 
to Fao district in small numbers ; Fao must be about its limit east. 
(2) The Siberian Lesser Black-backed Gull is common, especially at Fao and 
what has been said about tlie Herring Gull applies apparently equally well to 
this bird, except that there is no record of it north of Baghdad. 
293. Great Black=headed Gull. Larus ichthyaetus. 
Larus ichthyaetns, Pall. (Kcisc, Russ. Rcichs. 2, 1773, p. 713 — Caspian 
Sea). 
Magrath saw huge gulls with black heads on the Suwelkiyeh Maish in August 
which could only have been of this species. 
There is no other record, but it is a bird which of course is quite likely to 
occur. The Sooty Gull (L. /(ewpr/cAi) which certainly occurs in the Gulf is as 
yet unrecorded at Fao ; though on the look out for it, I failed to see it west of 
Bunder Abbas in Xovember and March. 
294. Black-headed Gull. Larus ridibundus. 
Larus ridibundus, L. (Syst. Xat. Ed. 12. 1766, p. 225 — England). 
A winter visitor, very common from Fao on both rivers to Hit and Tekrit 
respectively. It arrives back quite early, some being noted by mid- July near 
Baghdad, and some may still be seen at the end of May. Possibly a few non- 
breeders may spend the summer as in the case of the Herring Gull, though there 
are no actual records in June or July. Pitman says it was quite absent from 
the marshes of the Hindia Barrage, etc., in these months and there is no evidence 
that it breeds in our area. It assumes its breeding jjlumage before leaving in 
the spring. They become very tame and used to the various river craft which 
ply in the port of Basra, and Pitman relates that he saw a heUurn wallah actually 
catch one in his hand as it flew over his helium in Aschar creek. There is no 
record of melanocephalus in our area. 
(^9, Sheik Saad, 14-3-17 ; J , 20-3-17 (two) (P. Z. C. and K. E. C.), $ 
Sheik Saad, 15-1-18 (Robinson). Amara, 13-1-18 (P. A. B.) ; Basra, 20-11-7 
(C. B. T.). 
295. Little Gull. Larus minutus. 
Larus minutus. Pall. (Reise Rnss Rcichs. 3. 1776, p. 702 — Siberia). 
Zarudny records this as a passage migrant in the Karun district. 
There are no- other records ; it is not unlikely to occur in small numbers. 
296. .Slender-billed Gull. Larus gelastes. 
Larus (jelastes, Licht. (Theinem,. Fortpf. Vog. Eur., pt., 5, p. 22 1838 — 
S. France). 
The Slender-billed Gull is eommon artd resident; in winter it is widely distrib- 
uted and may be met with frequenting the rivers in flocks from Feluja and 
Samarra southwaids, as well as flooded areas. In summer they congregate in 
tlieir breeding grounds, which are the marshes and lakes in the Hindia Barrage 
area and elsewhere. 
Here near Museyib, Pitman found them in thousands in June and July ; on 
June 12th he found a colony of grass-built nests on islands in the marshes which, 
tJiough no eggs were found, he certainly took to belong to this species. Buxton 
records that it probably breeds in the marshes 20 miles east of Amara, where he 
obtained a bird on July 10th. It certainly breeds near Fao. where Armstrong 
found an egg in June which had been flooded out of its nest by the tides somo- 
tini" previously. The egg was on .a small mound in that part of the mud-banks 
