LITTLE GULL. 427 



and then in tlie possession of JNIr. Plasted of that place, at 

 the sale of whose collection it passed into the possession of 

 Mr. Leadbeater. Mr. Ballock''s celebrated collection con- 

 tained two specimens in 1819 which were then considered 

 very rare. Since that time various specimens have occurred 

 in different states of plumage. Mr. Selby has noticed one 

 killed in the Frith of Clyde. Dr. Neill obtained a specimen 

 from the Solway, in the autumn of 1824, which was presented 

 by him to the Edinburgh Museum. An adult bird, in sum- 

 mer-plumage, when it has a fine black head, was shot in Ire- 

 land, on the river Shannon, as recorded by Wm. Thompson, 

 Esq. ; the only specimen obtained in the British Islands in 

 that state of plumage that I am aware of. This species has 

 also been killed on the shores of Cornwall and Devonshire, 

 but occurs more frequently on the eastern coast. I have re- 

 ferred to one killed on the Thames. Dr. Waring gave Mr. 

 Leadbeater a beautiful adult specimen in winter-plumage that 

 was shot at the mouth of a small river in Essex. The late 

 Mr. Hoy obtained one on the Suffolk coast in 1832; and 

 Mr. Fuller, of Lowestoff, obtained a specimen in that vicinity. 

 It has been met with at Yarmouth in Norfolk. Mr. Hawk- 

 ridge, of Scarborough, shot a young bird there in November, 

 1836, and obligingly allowed me the use of it for this work ; 

 the figure and description of the young bird of the year here 

 given, were taken from that specimen. Mr. A. Hancock, of 

 Newcastle, has noticed one killed in September, 1835, at the 

 mouth of the Tyne, and it has also been taken in Scotland. 



Professor Nilsson says this species is a summer-visiter to 

 the marshes in the vicinity of the Baltic and Gottland, where 

 it breeds, but he has never seen the eggs ; it is also said to 

 visit Russia and Siberia. It is included by the ornithologists 

 of Germany among the birds of that country. M. Temminck 

 says he has killed two, and examined several others in Hol- 

 land. Professor Necker and Dr. Schinz have recorded four 

 or five instances of this species having been taken about dif- 



