664 LITTLE GULL. 



recorded (once in May) from the Border to the Shetlands. To 

 Ireland it is an infrequent visitor in autumn and winter. 



The Little Gull wandered to the Faeroes in February 1886, and has 

 occasionally visited the south of Norway; but, according to Nilsson, 

 it formerly bred in Gottland, and occurs annually on the coasts and 

 islands of the Baltic. Its nearest nesting-places are now probably 

 those in the morasses of Esthonia, and between Lake Ladoga and 

 Archangel : but large colonies are to be found among the swamps of 

 the Ural, and the bird remains until somewhat late in spring in 

 Southern Russia and the Black Sea district, though not known to 

 breed there. On migration and in winter it visits the inland waters 

 and the coasts of Europe down to the Mediterranean, as well as the 

 northern shores of Africa from Morocco to Egypt. In summer it is 

 found across temperate Asia to the Sea of Okhotsk ; but, with the 

 exception of a bird shot by Col. Irby in Oudh in January 1859, it 

 has not been recorded from India. An immature example was 

 obtained on Long Island, New York State, about September 15th 

 1887 (Auk 1 888, p. 171). 



The late AV. Meves of Stockholm, who found a large colony ot 

 " Schieks ■" — as the Russians call the Little Gulls — near Lake 

 Ladoga, described the nests as being placed on almost floating islets 

 of tangled plants, and built of leaves and grass. The eggs, usually 

 3 but occasionally 4 in number, are clive-green or brownish, 

 rather minutely spotted and sparsely blotched with umber : measure- 

 ments I "65 by I "I in. Both parents incubate. The stomachs of 

 the birds examined by Meves contained chiefly small fish, insects 

 being found only in a few. 



The adult in summer (figured in the foreground) has the head 

 and upper neck deep black ; mantle pale grey ; primaries grey, broadly 

 edged with white and devoid of dark bars ; the under-side of the 

 wing black — a conspicuous characteristic when the bird is flying ; 

 neck and tail white ; breast and belly pinkish-white ; bill reddish- 

 brown ; legs and feet vermilion. In winter the head is white, more 

 or less streaked with ash colour on the nape, as shown in the hinder- 

 most figure. Length 1 1 in., wing 875 in. A young bird (the central 

 figure), shot in November, had the upper parts mottled with dark 

 brown, and a band of the same colour at the tip of the tail ; 

 primaries sooty on both webs next the shafts and white on the 

 remainder of the inner webs ; under-wing white ; bill blackish ; feet 

 yellowish-pink. The nape becomes dark grey the first spring, but 

 the dark markings on the shoulders and tail remain till after the 

 second moult. Mr. J. H. Gurney has recorded a white variety. 



