590 LARIDiE. 



tained two examples in 1819, which were then considered 

 very rare. Since that time various specimens have occurred 

 in different states of plumage ; but it was not until the year 

 18GG that this species was remarked as occurring in any 

 numbers. In that year it was tolerably numerous on the 

 Yorkshire coast, where, in 1868, Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun., 

 knew of some fourteen or more specimens obtained between 

 the 12th of July and the 21st of November, two of those 

 shot in the former month having black heads. In that year 

 only one was obtained in Norfolk ; but during the winter 

 of 1869-70, especially after the heavy easterly gales of 

 February, Mr. Bond saw eleven specimens in Leadenhall 

 Market, eight of which were adults ; Mr. Stevenson judged 

 that over sixty had been killed on the Norfolk coast (Tr. 

 Norfolk & Norw. Nat. Soc. i, pp. 65-70), the proportion 

 of old birds being about twenty-nine to six immature ; 

 and about thirty birds were obtained at Bridlington, nine- 

 teen of these being adults. Passing northwards, the Little 

 Gull is recorded from Durham and Northumberland ; and 

 from various localities along the east coast of Scotland up to 

 Sutherland and Caithness, and also in Shetland ; but on 

 the western side the records of its visits are rare ; it has, 

 however, been obtained on the Firth of Clyde ; in the 

 Isle of Skye ; and on Loch Lomond. It has also occurred 

 on the Solway and in Lancashire; but it seldom visits Wales, 

 although in Cornwall both adults and immature examples 

 are occasionally met with in winter. In South Devon Mr. 

 Gatcombe knows of upwards of half a dozen immature birds 

 killed near Plymouth ; and it has occurred in Somersetshire 

 and along the south coast of England. Inland it has been 

 obtained at King's Newton in Derbyshire (Zool. p. 3118). 



In Ireland an adult in summer plumage is recorded by 

 Thompson as having been shot on the Shannon ; and it has 

 been recorded in Galway ; at Belfast ; near Dublin ; and on 

 other parts of the coast. 



The Little Gull is only a recent straggler to southern 

 Norway, but according to Nilsson it formerly bred in Gott- 

 land. It is a visitor to the coasts and islands of the i-]alti(' 



