THE LITTLE-GULL 149 



The other feeding habit calling for mention may properly be called 

 parasitic. It takes the form of keeping close attendance upon other 

 species, and of attempting to snatch from them the food they draw up 

 from the ground. I have repeatedly seen blackheads, two or three at 

 a time, standing round an oystercatcher, watching with interest the 

 disappearance of his long red beak into the mud, and with still greater 

 interest the emergence of the same. The seapie was under no illusions 

 as to the meaning of these attentions, and, when it drew a worm up, 

 lost no time in making off with its prey. This was in May at Raven- 

 glass. Plovers are pestered in the same way, especially in hard 

 weather during winter, and apparently with some success. 



Having regard to these facts, one is surely justified in feeling that 

 the sense attached to the word " gull " in the dictionaries is no 

 longer appropriate. 



THE LITTLE-GULL 



[F. C. R. JOURDAIN] 



In general appearance this gull is a miniature edition of the 

 blackheaded-gull, and even more closely resembles the Adriatic or 

 Mediterranean blackheaded-gull on a small scale. It is a tolerably 

 regular visitor in small numbers to the British Isles, occurring chiefly 

 on our east coast, and sometimes in considerable numbers in autumn 

 and winter. The most important visitations of which we have records 

 are those of 1866 and 1868 to East Yorkshire, while in the winter of 

 1869 and February 1870 still larger numbers were met with along the 

 whole of the east coast of England. Northward it has been recorded 

 from the Shetlands, along the Channel westward to the Scillies, 

 occasionally along the west side of Great Britain, and very rarely in 

 Ireland. As, however, it is clear that this species is extending its 

 breeding-grounds westward, it is probable that it will occur more 



