LARUS MELANOCEPIIALU3. 297 



Subfamily L ARIN^. Legs and feet large and strong ; bill 

 shorter than head. 



Moorish for Gulls. Garvia or Kerzeit. Spanish. Gaviota. 



337. Larus minutus, Pallas. The Little Gull. 



Favier only mentions having once obtained this diminutive 

 Gull near Tangier, in February, 1854. I have seen them in 

 some numbers, though very irregularly, in winter. Verner says 

 a small flock frequented the Laguna de las Jabas in February, 

 1892. I saw two sitting on the bowsprit of a yacht anchored at 

 Gibraltar on the 24th of March, 1894. 



Spring. Head black. 



Winter. Head white, with a few dusky spots. 



Young. Head brownish, marked with black and grey. 



Smallest Gull, length offing under 9^ inches. Length 10-11 inches. 



338. Larus ridibundus, Linnaeus. The Brown-headed Gull. 

 According to Favier this Gull is the most common species 



around Tangier, arriving chiefly during November, and departing 

 north in March. 



Is found as above on the Spanish side, and was noticed as late 

 as the 10th of April, 1894, at the Laguna de la Janda. 



Head sooty brown from about March 1st to August 1st. 



Winter. Head white, with grey patch behind eye. 



Young. Marked above with brown, and, as in all Hack-headed Gulls, has 

 a blackish bar at the end of tail. 



Primaries white, with black tips, edged on the inner web with black and 

 usually on the outer web. Length 15-16 inches. 



339. Larus melanocephalus, Natterer. The Adriatic Black- 



headed Gull. 



This Gull may occasionally occur in the Straits in winter ; but 

 I never obtained one, and Lord Lilford tells me that he never saw 

 any westward of Malaga. 



Mr. H. Saunders writes to me as follows : " There has been a 



