THE BROWN-HEADED GULL 281 
like a Swallow’s than that of the Common Tern, and in size it does 
not so very much exceed the Swift as to make the comparison out- 
rageous. A shrimp it can undoubtedly catch; and it exercises 
its vocation in shallow water, such as shrimps alone inhabit or 
small fish no larger than shrimps. 
Like the other Terns it is migratory, repairing year after year 
to low flat shores on various parts of the coast, arriving in May, 
and departing in September for some climate subject to no cold 
severe enough to banish small marine animals to deep water. The 
Lesser Tern makes no nest, but lays its eggs, generally two, among 
the shingle. 
Sus-Famity LARINZE 
THE LITTLE GULL 
LARUS MINUTUS 
Summer—head and neck black; lower part of the neck, tail, all the under 
plumage, white; upper plumage pale ash-grey; primaries white at the 
end ; bill reddish brown; irides dark; legs vermilion. W#inter—fore- 
head, front and sides of the neck white ; nape and cheeks white, streaked 
with greyish black. Length eleven inches. 
Tuis, the smallest of the Gulls, comes sometimes in numbers to the 
British coast. It is said to be remarkably active and graceful in 
its movements through the air, and to associate with Terns. Its 
food consists of marine insects and small fish. Its breeding-place 
and eggs are unknown. As a rule it leaves us in September or 
early in October. 
THE BROWN-HEADED GULL 
LARUS RIDIBUNDUS 
Summer—head and upper part of the neck deep brown; lower part of the 
neck and all the under plumage white, slightly tinged with rose; upper 
plumage bluish ash ; primaries white, edged with ash, and broadly tipped 
with black ; irides brown; billand feetred, witha purpletinge. In winter 
the head and neck are white; bill and feet bright vermilion. In young 
birds the hood is pale brown; the upper plumage dark brown, mottled 
at the edges of the feathers with yellowish ; bill livid at the base, the 
tip black ; feet yellowish. Lengthseventeeninches. Eggs olive, spotted 
with brown and dusky. 
Biack-HEADED, Black-Cap, Brown-Headed, Red-Legged, and 
Pewit, are all common distinctive names of this Gull, to which 
may be added that of Laughing Gull. The latter name is, indeed, 
often given to the next species, a rare bird, and might with equal 
propriety be applied to several other species, whose harsh cry 
