LARUS.] AVES NATATORES. 



others black ; the tips of the third, fourth, and fifth, white, giving the 

 wing when closed a spotted appearance ; the sixth primary quill with a 

 white shaft, having the web more or less black, but principally white, 

 with sometimes a black spot near the end; the other primaries, the 

 secondaries, and tertials, white; the whole under parts of the wings 

 white: wings extending an inch or more beyond the longest feather of 

 the tail : upper and under tail-coverts white ; the tail feathers twelve, 

 the outer narrower than the central ones ; the depth of the fork nearly an 

 inch : bill with the base of both mandibles black as far as the angular 

 projection of the lower mandible, the remainder yellow ; inside of the 

 mouth bright vermilion : irides dark, surrounded by a naked circle of the 

 same colour as the inside of the mouth ; a small white speck beneath 

 the eye, scarcely perceptible : legs black," SAB. In the immature state 

 and in the adult winter plumage, the black head is wanting. (Egg.) Of 

 a regular shape, and not much pointed : colour olive, much blotched with 

 brown : long. diam. one inch six lines. SAB. 



Two individuals of this species, which was first observed in Greenland 

 by Captain Sabine, are recorded by Mr Thompson* to have been killed 

 in Ireland. The specimens, which are both in the plumage of the first 

 year, are now in the Museums of the Natural History Society of Belfast 

 and the Royal Society of Dublin. Not much is known respecting its 

 habits. Said to lay two eggs on the bare ground, which are hatched in 

 the last week in July. Food, marine insects. 



(2. LARUS, Steph.) 



* Small; less than twenty inches in length. 

 291. L. minutus, Pall. (Little Gull) Bill brownish 

 red : legs bright vermilion : tarsus eleven or twelve lines : 

 hind toe very small ; the claw straight : all the quills tipped 

 with white ; the shafts of the primaries brown. 



L. minutus, Temm. Man. aOrn. torn. n. p. 787. Little Gull, Mont. 

 Orn. Diet. App. to Supp. with fig. Lath. Syn. vol. in. p. 391. 

 Selb. Illmt. vol. n. p. 484. pi. 92. Gould, Europ. Birds, part xi. 



DIMENS. Entire length rather exceeding ten inches: length of the 

 bill (from the forehead) rather more than nine lines ; of the tarsus rather 

 more than one inch ; from the carpus to the end of the wing eight inches 

 six lines. MONT. 



DESCRIPT. (Adult in winter.) Forehead, cheeks, and a space behind 

 the eyes, throat, and all the under parts, pure white : occiput, nape, a spot 

 at the anterior angle of the eye, and ear-coverts, deep blackish gray : 

 upper parts of the body and wings pale bluish ash : primary and secondary 

 quills broadly tipped with white : inside of the wings deep blackish gray': 

 tail white: bill and irides dusky brown: legs bright vermilion-red. 

 (Adult in summer.) " All the head, and upper part of the neck, black; 

 a white crescent-shaped spot behind the eyes ; lower part of the neck, and 

 all the under parts, white, with a faint blush of rose-red : back, scapulars, 

 and wings, very pale bluish ash ; rump and tail pure white : primary 

 quills cinereous; all of them, as well as the secondaries, tipped with 

 white: bill deep lake-red: irides dark brown: legs crimson." TEMM. 

 (Young of the year.) "Forehead and crown white, tinged with gray: 

 nape, and back part of the neck, and upper parts of the body, blackish 



* Lond. and Edinb. Phil. Mag. and Journ. fifSci. vol. v. (iaS4) p. 299. 



