IN JERDON OR STRAY FEATHERS. 443 



beneath the eye a small streak of white ; bill blackish brown ; 

 irides and feet very dark brown. — Gould, u Bird of Australia.''' 



981 fo's.— Larus minutus, Pall. 



Major Irby says in his paper on the Birds of Oudh and Ku- 

 maon : " I killed a specimen of this Gull, in its winter dress 

 in January 1859, near Jehangirabad ; it was exceedingly tame, 

 allowing" me to approach within two or three yards." 



This has been quoted and requoted, and on the strength of 

 this, L. minutus has been assumed to be an Indian species. 



Now I am quite sure that Major Irby fully believed what 

 he said, but I doubt whether he was at that time a good 

 enough ornithologist to be certain of the species or to enable 

 us to feel sure that the bird he got was not something else — 

 Hydrochelidon hybrida or S. anglica for instance. Anyhow no 

 other specimen of the little Gull has ever been observed in India, 

 and I cannot at present admit the species into our list. I should 

 be delighted, however, to find myself wroug, and Major Irby 

 right, and in order to enable any one who does get hold of a 

 specimen (if this by any chance might happen,) to identify 

 the bird at once and convict me of error, I subjoin a full 

 description of the species, quoted from Dresser's great work on 

 the Birds of Europe : — 



" Adult Male, in Summer Plumage. — Back beautiful, delicate, 

 French grey ; head black all over, the throat iucluded ; back 

 and sides of the neck, upper part of the back, rump, and up- 

 per tail-coverts, as well as the tail itself, pure white ; wino-- 

 coverts of the same colour as the back; quills delicate grey 

 above like the back, all the feathers tipped with white ; the under 

 surface of the wing greyish black ; under surface of the body 

 pure white, with a beautiful blush of pink on the breast ; under 

 wing-coverts dark grey ; axillary plumes greyish white ; bill 

 blackish red ; gape dark red ; legs bright vermilion or coral ; 

 iris deep brown. Total length, 10-4 inches ; culmen, 09 ; 

 wing, 8'8; tail, 3'6 ; tarsus, 095. 



" Adult Female. — Exactly similar in colouration to the adult 

 male, but perhaps a trifle smaller in size. 



" Adult Male in Winter Plumage. — Conspicuous by the absence 

 of the black head ; the latter is white, excepting a slight indi- 

 cation of grey on the nape ; the breast is suffused with pink as 

 in summer; but the feet are yellowish red, and not nearly so 

 brilliant as in the breeding bird. 



