50 



Lloyd's natural history. 



^ving-coverts pearly-grey, but the median and greater coverts 

 blackish, edged with white at the ends ; bastard-wing and 

 primary-coverts black; the primaries black along the outer 

 web and down the inner side of the shaft, the rest of the inner 

 web white for its whole extent, except at the tip, which is 

 black, with a white spot at the end of the quill ; the inner 

 primaries slaty-grey externally and along the inner edge of the 

 shaft, the tip white with a sub-terminal black bar, the black 

 lessening and the white extending till the secondaries are 

 almost entirely white, excepting for a longitudinal patch of 

 blackish towards the end of the outer web ; tail-feathers white, 

 with a black band across the end of all but the outermost ; 

 crown of head blackish, the forehead and eyebrows white ; the 

 sides of the face white, with some streaks of black behind the 

 eye ; entire under surface of body pure white, including the 

 under wing-coverts, axillaries, and quill-lining. 



Young in First Winter. — Resembles the winter plumage of the 

 adult, but is easily distinguished by the black band at the end 

 of the tail, and the broad black band across the wing, formed 

 by the median and greater coverts. The white lining to the 

 quills also distinguishes a young bird at once. 



Range in Great Britain. — The Little Gull sometimes visits us 

 in large numbers, mostly in autumn and winter, but, as might 

 be expected, the greater number of occurrences take place on 

 our eastern and southern coasts, those on the western coasts 

 and in Ireland being much fewer in number. 



Range Outside the British Islands. — In summer, Mr. Saunders 

 says that the present species inhabits the lakes and marshy 

 districts of sub-Arctic and temperate Europe, extending 

 southwards in winter to the Mediterranean. Through 

 temperate Asia it is found up to the mouth of the Amur 

 River and the Sea of Okhotsk, but has not been noticed in 

 Mongolia or China. It has once been obtained in Northern 

 India, and has been known to wander to the Faeroe Islands, 

 and even to New York State in North America. 



Habits. — The small size of the Little Gull distinguishes it at 

 a glance from any of the other British species, and it is much 

 more easily approached than most of the latter. It breeds in 



