LITTLE GULL 409 



appears to be that of a bird procured near Penzance, on 

 October 20th, 1890 (Harting, ' Zoologist,' 1891, p. 35). 



DESCRIPTIVE CHARACTERS. 



PLUMAGE. Adult male nuptial. Head and neck, dark 

 plumbeous-black ; back, scapulars, and wings, ' pearl ' grey ; 

 throat, breast, and abdomen, white ; first primary, white, 

 tipped and edged on the outer web with black ; remaining 

 primaries, barred near their extremities with black, the 

 inner webs being whitish-grey ; tail, pure white. 



Adult female nuptial. Similar in plumage to the male. 



Adult winter, male and female. Differs from the nuptial 

 plumage in that the head and neck are white, slightly 

 mottled with grey, especially over the ear-coverts. 



Immature, male and female. Top of head, brownish- 

 grey ; back of neck, back, and wings, edged with brown and 

 light buff ; scapulars, broadly margined with very light 

 buffish-white ; three outer primaries, black on both sides 

 of the shaft ; tail, white, with a broad brown band at its 

 terminal portion. 



BEAK. Black. 



FEET. Orange-red. 



IRIDES. Dark brown. 



EGGS. Greenish- brown, spotted, streaked, and zoned, 

 with dark brown : clutch, two to three. 



AVERAGE MEASUREMENTS. 



TOTAL LENGTH ... ... ... 14 in. 



WING 10-25 



BEAK 1-5 ,, 



TARSO-METATARSUS ... ... 1*4 ,, 



EGG ... ... 1-9 x 1-4 in. 



LITTLE GULL. Lams minutus (Pallas). 



Coloured Figures. Gould, ' Birds of Great Britain,' vol. v, pi. 

 66 ; Dresser, ' Birds of Europe,' vol. viii, pis. 599, 599a ; 

 Lilford, Coloured Figures,' vol. vi, pi. 18 ; Booth, ' Bough 

 Notes,' vol. iii, pi. 34. 



The Little Gull so named on account of its diminutive 

 size is of comparatively rare occurrence along our sea- 



