LARID.*:. 



66' 



THE LITTLE GULL. 



Larus MiNUTUS, Pallas. 



This species, the smallest member of the genus, was introduced 

 to the British list by Montagu, who described and figured a young 

 bird shot near Chelsea prior to 1813. Subsequently specimens have 

 frequently been obtained, while in 1866, and again in 1868, Little 

 Gulls appeared on the coast of Yorkshire in numbers till then un- 

 precedented ; though these were far exceeded along the entire east 

 side of England during the winter of 1869, and again after the heavy 

 easterly gales of February 1870, when the proportion of adults to 

 young birds was unusually large. This Gull has also occurred along 

 the Channel as far as Cornwall, but it seldom visits Wales and 

 Lancashire, though more frequent of late years in the Solway 

 district. Along the west of Scotland it has appeared at intervals 

 as farnorthward as Skye and North Uist ; while on the east, as might 

 be expected, the bird is more frequently met with, and has been 



