62 HISTORY OF 



a clear pearly grey, with the secondaries tipped with white ; 

 nape of the neck, and back part of the head, brownish black ; 

 bill, reddish black ; legs, bright red. 



In its summer plumage, this bird is remarkable for the great 

 change which it exhibits from that of winter, particularly with 

 regard to the head, which at that time, together with the nape 

 of the neck, is of a deep black. The bill and legs, also, become 

 blood red. 



The young bird, also, before the first moult, exhibits consi- 

 derable difference from the plumage of the adult ; the quills 

 having their outer webs and tips black. The tail feathers are 

 also tipped with black. The upper plumage is of brownish 

 grey, instead of the beautiful pearly grey of the adult bird. 

 Length, nine inches and a half; length of the tarsi, one inch 

 and a tenth. The proper habitat of the Little Gull is in Russia, 

 Livonia, Hungary, and the shores of the Caspian Sea. 



