VISITORS T O ASIA may have been lucky enough to see Saunders's Gull Larus saundersi. Lucky, yes, because the survival of this species is under great threat. Its three known breeding grounds and most of its wintering area lie within China. Saunders's Gull is adapted to breeding in a very particular habitat: land which has been naturally reclaimed on the coast from silt which has washed downstream from deep inland. Indeed, the gulls choose areas which are in the transition from damp saltmarsh to dry saltmarsh, where the salinity of the soil has declined, allowing a low cover of vegetation. The colonies are in areas of silt deposit at the mouths of rivers, areas which are being reclaimed by the human population almost as fast as the mud is formed. The most northerly breeding area at the Shuangtaizi River Nature Reserve, Liaoning Province, produced almost no chicks last year. There, the land is being reclaimed to a depth of around 3 m below high-tide level for reservoirs, shrimp ponds and rice fields, and the saltmarsh destroyed. The newly reclaimed land is left to allow the salt content to decline and so can provide good conditions for the gulls, but, in these unnatural conditions, the mud dries out fast and is quickly invaded by tall, dense vegetation and mammalian predators. Breeding success at all three colonies has been affected by considerable human disturbance, including egg-collecting. The WWF is attempting to arrange a number of stop-gap measures, but there is no certainty