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In Holland Professor Schlegel says it is occasional on the coasts ; and Mr. H. M. Labouchere 

 writes to us : — " The Little Gull is of very rare occurrence in Holland ; at intervals, however, 

 small flocks of these birds make their appearance on the sea-coasts, but they seldom remain there 

 for any length of time. A few pairs of these birds have been knowu to breed in the part of the 

 country known as the ' Hook of Holland.' " De Selys-Longchamps states that it only occurs on 

 the coast of Flanders during the period of migration, and is a very uncertain visitor. Degland 

 and Gerbe write : — "A few individuals have been killed on the banks of the Scheldt, near Tournai, 

 in the salt marshes of the Departement du Nord, near Abbeville, Montreuil-sur-Mer, Saint-Omer, 

 Amiens, and also in the south of France. Mr. Hardy has procured it in September, near 

 Dieppe." 



No mention has yet been made of the Little Gull in Spain, though it is doubtless an 

 occasional visitor to the eastern coast of the country. In Italy, Count Salvadori informs us it is 

 not particularly common, particularly in summer dress. Mr. Howard Saunders believes that it 

 is not uncommon on the Tiber in spring; and Dr. Giglioli says that he saw a few scattered 

 individuals of the present species in the neighbourhood of Leghorn Harbour in May. Malherbe 

 has published the following note on the Little Gull in Sicily : — " This Gull is common in the 

 south, on the shores of Sicily. It appears on the coasts in September, and goes then to the lakes 

 in the interior. It is often killed near Lentini. In April it reappears on the coast, and leaves 

 us in May. Its fearlessness borders on stupidity." Mr. Saunders states that the Museum of 

 Palermo contains many fine specimens of the present species, while he himself saw a great 

 quantity of Little Gulls in the Bay of Catania. Mr. C. A. Wright states that in Malta "in 

 some years this species is pretty plentiful in our harbours in winter, and it not unfrequently 

 arrives in September. Its great tameness and fearlessness of danger are a remarkable feature 

 in this bird. I have shot as many as nine or ten in the course of a few hours, and might have 

 shot more. It may easily be recognized on the wing by its small size, peculiar light, butterfly 

 manner of flight, and dark under wing-coverts. I have never seen it here in the breeding- 

 plumage. Besides the general name of Gauja, or Gull, the Maltese call it Cirlena, or Tern, 

 from its somewhat similar mode of flight." Loche says it is by no means common in Algeria, 

 only occurring in winter, and then but rarely and accidentally. Canon Tristram, however, writes 

 to us as follows : — " Larus minutus abounds in winter on all the shallow lagoons of the North- 

 African coast, especially between Tunis and Carthage, where it is extremely tame, flying and 

 dipping after small fish like a Tern. Nearer home I generally hear of a specimen or two every 

 winter shot in my own parish at Tees-mouth." Quite recently Captain Shelley has obtained a 

 specimen in full winter plumage at Alexandria ; it had not been recorded from this locality since 

 Savigny's time. By the last-named author it was figured in the celebrated ' Description de 

 l'Egypte,' and received the name of Larus dorbignii from Victor Audouin. 



Lindermayer's notes are as follows : — 



" I have only observed this Gull during the summer, whereas Von der Miihle states that he 

 only met with it in winter in immature plumage. Both our observations agree if we take the 

 different localities into consideration. Whether it breeds with us, and if so, in what part of the 

 country, I have not been able to ascertain." Lord Lilford, in his paper on birds observed in the 

 Ionian Islands, says that this species was " tolerably common hi winter, particularly in the yacht- 



