AFRICA CORAL STRAND 
399 
coloured plate and measurements, and the Arabian coast is the 
stronghold of that species. 
Nichol describes the incunabula from which his specimens 
were collected, as “ faint hollows in the sand surrounded by 
rushes; but in no case was there a sign of seaweed or other 
nest-material being used.” 
Presumably the white-eyed gull ( Larus leucophthalmus , the 
most abundant at Port Sudan) must also breed hereabouts. 
Further south Sir Geoffrey Archer, K.C.M.G., H.M.’s Com¬ 
missioner for British Somaliland, tells me that both species nest 
together—the white-eyed gull breeding openly on the sand flats 
as terns do—and that, the eggs being surrounded by a ring 
of seaweed, the nest is conspicuous afar; whereas Hemprich’s 
gull prefers to lay in cover, however slight, but provides no nest 
at all. 
Tern ( Sterna ancEstheta —Lesser sooty tern).—The eggs 
brought home, collected on Jinnabiyat Islands, are of a 
brighter and warmer stone-colour than those of the gulls and 
with smaller reddish-chocolate specks. Some examples are 
long, almost oval, and resemble those of sandgrouse rather than 
terns. Mr Butler regards them as belonging to the above 
species, the parents also answering to the description of that 
bird which Heuglin found breeding abundantly near Jeddah— 
which is close to Jinnabiyat—and in the same month (June). 
The terns’ nests were placed close together in low undergrowth 
of heathery type. A few doves and some gulls also nested on 
Jinnabiyat. 
It is noteworthy that the observations recorded by 
Lieutenant Nichol correspond in singular exactitude with 
the long-preceding experiences of the three foreign naturalists 
above cited. 
Openbill Stork. 
