Table Of Content,
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES
Acknowledgements and the unending discussions, this note would
be so muchthepoorer.
Many thanks to Harshvardhan for
travelling with me and photographing the bird, June 25, 1998 HARKIRATSINGHSANGHA
and to Per Undeland who travelled with me to B-27, Gautam Marg,
the remote areas ofSikar and Churn districts in Hanuman Nagar, Jaipur302 021
search of Vanellus gregarius. Without his help Rajasthan, India.
Refer NCES
Ali, S. &S.D. Ripley(1980): Handbookofthe Birdsof Edicions,Barcelona.
India and Pakistan, Vol. 2. 2nd Edn. Oxford Roberts,T.J.(1991):TheBirdsofPakistan,Vol. 1,Oxford
UniversityPress,Delhi. UniversityPress,Karachi.
Collar,N.J., M.J.Crosby&A.J. Stattersfield(1994): Vijayan,V.S.(Ed.)(1987):VertebrateFaunaofKeoladeo
BirdstoWatch,BirdLifeInternational,Cambridge. National Park, Bharatpur. Report of Keoladeo
del Hoyo, J., A. Elliot & J. Sargatal (eds) (1996): National Park Ecology Project, Bombay Natural
HandbookoftheBirdsoftheWorld,Vol.3.Lynx HistorySociety,Bombay.
ADDITIONAL SIGHT RECORDS OF SLENDERBILLED GULL
8.
LARUSGENETFROM GUJARAT
The slenderbilled gull Larusgenei Breme Table1
RECORDSOFSLENDERBILLEDGULLFROM
is considered to be a winter visitor to the west GUJARATCOAST
coast, west to Sindh, Gujarat and Bombay (Ali
and Ripley 1983). Except for one specimen S.No. Site No.ofbirds Date
collected by Dharmakumarsinhji (1955) near
Bhavnagar, the species was not recorded either 1. NarayanSarovar 50 26.ix.1992
2. Jakhau 5000 25.ix.1992
fromKachchh(Palin andLester 1904,Ali 1945) 3. Surajbari 4 4.x.1991
or from mainland Gujarat. However, Mundkur 4. PirotanIsland Afew 8.iii.1980
fKetaracol.hmc(h1s9eh8v8ae)rnadhlaovpleionrceeadptoitrohtnaestdisatirigsohutaincndgoomtfhmetohenGsuwpliefnctioeesrf 6578.... OCPHhoakarrhrbsaaahknalddaeDrSaaBlimtrdPaSnasnctuary 223129 2223088....ixxxviii.iiil.9..19119699999666
visitor there. 9. PorbanderBirdSanctuary 6 31.xii.1996
We too have seen this species at several 10. PorbanderSaltPans 6 27.iv.1997
11. PorbanderSaltPans 36 15.vi.1997
places in fairly good numbers around the Gulf 12. BhavnagarPort 2 31.xii.1995
ofKachchh (Table 1). We have also recorded it
repeatedly from Porbander (east coast of the ground. AtNarayan Sarovar, the birds were
Saurashtra) and Bhavnagar (GulfofKhambat), seen flying above the creek. At Charakla salt
suggestingthatitiscommonontheGujaratcoast pans, they were swimming along with
in general. This supports the views ofMundkur blacknecked grebes Podiceps nigricollis. At
et ah (1988). Porbander, the birds were seen both in the
At Jakhau, the slenderbilled gull along sanctuaryareaandsaltpans.Recordsofthisgull
withthelesserblackbackedgullLarusfuscusand during April andJune atPorbander also support
herring gull Larus argentatus was seen resting theviewofMundkuretal (1988) thatitmaybe
andoccasionally feedingonthe fishes dryingon nesting within our limits, or that the non-
JOURNAL, BOMBAYNATURAL HISTORYSOCIETY, 97(2), AUG. 2000 279
MISCELLANEOUSNOTES
breedingindividualstendtostayoverwithinour ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
limits.
The available data and our own intensive We thank Dr. D.N. Yadav, Officer-m-
studies on the coast ofGujarat suggest that the Charge for constant encouragement, and the
gull is quite abundant on the GulfofKachchh, Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New
but not so on the Gulf ofKhambat. One ofus Delhi for financial support.
(Parasharya 1984) studied the coastal avifauna
near Bhavnagar and Ghogha during 1979 to July 24, 1998 B.M.PARASHARYA
1983, but had seen it only once. It is possible K.L. MATHEW
that the species wras overlooked because of its A.G. SUKHADIA
similarities with the blackheaded gull Lams AESHITAMUKHERJEE
ridibundus in winter plumage (Ali and Ripley AINP on Agricultural Ornithology,
1983, Mundkur et al. 1988). Hence, a careful Gujarat Agricultural University,
surveyoftheGulfofKhambatmightyieldafew Anand388 1JO,
more sightings. Gujarat, India.
ReferENCES
Ali,S.(1945):TheBirdsofKutch.Oxford,Bombay. theGulfofKachchh,Gujarat.J.Bombaynat.Hist.
Ali, S. &S.D. Ripley(1983): HandbookoftheBirdsof Soc. 85(2):420-422.
India and Pakistan. Compact edition, Oxford Palin,H.&C.D.Lester(1904):TheBirdsofCutch.The
UniversityPress, Delhi. TimesPress,Bombay.
Dharmakumarsinhji, K.S. (1955): Birds ofSaurashtra. Parasharya,B.M.(1984):Studiesonthecoastalbirdsand
TimesofIndia,Bombay. theirmarinehabitatwithaspecialemphasisonthe
Mundkur,T.,L.M.Raol&S.N.Varu(1988):Distribution biology ofthe Indian ReefHeron. Ph.D. thesis,
ofthe slenderbilled gull {Lamsgenei Breme) in SaurashtraUniversity,Rajkot.
MULTIPLE BROODING OF THE LITTLE BROWN DOVE
9.
STREPTOPELIA SENEGALENSIS
Aninstanceofmultiplebroodingbyapair breeding season has led to a propensity for
oflittle brown doves, Streptopelia senegalensis multiple brooding. Predation, probably, is of
Linn, andtheirincubationrhythmwas observed secondary importance in the evolution of
in Bharatpur, Rajasthan, India in 1987-1988. columbid reproductive strategy (Westmoreland
Thoughmultiplebrooding isreportedinmostof et al. 1986).
the columbids (Westmoreland et al. 1986) Apairoflittle brown doves was observed
including Streptopelia senegalensis (Ali and attemptingnestconstructionoveranelectricbulb
Ripley 1983), frequentandcontinuousbrooding hidden behind a stone pillar on the verandah of
by Streptopelia senegalensis is so far not my house. The adult birds brought the nesting
reported. The littlebrowndovereportedlyraises materials for three days, but could not succeed
two ormore broods (Ali andRipley 1983). astherewasnothingtoholdthenestingmaterials
Columbids produce food (crop milk) for intact. Tohelp them, I made acup-like structure
the young nestlings in vivo and feed older with split bamboo sticks and tied it above the
nestlings a diverse diet ofseeds. Thus, breeding electric bulb. Being disturbed, the birds moved
m
need not be synchronized with the availability totheneighbouringgardenabout 10 awayand
of a particular food. The resultant protracted made a nest in a Capparis sepiaria bush. Later,
280 JOURNAL, BOMBAYNATURAL HISTORYSOCIETY. 97(2), AUG. 2000
