182 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



Behavior. — In flight and general habits the little gull is said to 

 closely resemble the black-headed gull. They are very tame and 

 fearless of danger. Their flight is graceful and active, and it is 

 said at times to be butterfly-like or to resemble that of swallows. 

 Professor Liljeborg, quoted by Dresser, says that their graceful and 

 quick evolutions in pursuit of insects " almost surpass goatsuckers." 

 In a word, these gulls resemble terns in flight rather than the 

 larger gulls. 



FaK.— Gatke (1895), at Heligoland, says: 



All the gulls leave their northern breeding stations before the approach of 

 winter in order to betake themselves to more temperate latitudes. In the case 

 of none, however, does this movement so much partake of the nature of a 

 true migration as in that of. the present species. Long-extending flights of 

 these pretty little birds may be seen traveling over the sea past the island at the 

 close of September and during the first half of October. Their movements, 

 however, are quite different from what one is accustomed to see in the case 

 of most migrants. Companies of from 100 to 200 individuals travel in motley 

 throng quite low over the sea, continuously dropping to the surface to pick 

 up food.. All the time, however, they rigidly maintain their western course of 

 flight, and speeding along with great rapidity are very soon lost to sight. 

 Moreover, considerable quantities of these gulls, intermingled with the larger 

 species, are met with here all the winter months during violent westerly and 

 northwesterly gales, when they seek a temporary shelter on the lee side of the 

 island. While roving over the sea in all directions in search of food they 

 execute many rapid beats with their wings. 



Winter, — Canon Tristram writes to Dresser (1871) that " 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." 



DISTRIBUTION. 



Breeding range. — Iceland, Northern Europe, and Asia, from 

 Jutland, Prussia, Gothland, and the northern half of Russia, east- 

 ward across Siberia to the Sea of Okhotsk, and northward to 

 Archangel and to the Arctic Circle on the Obi River. 



Winter range. — South to north Africa coasts, the Mediterranean 

 Sea, and inland waters of southern Europe; occasional in Great 

 Britain. 



Casual records. — Two records for Long Island, New York (Fire 

 Island, September 15, 1887, and Rockaway Beach, May 10, 1902) ; 

 two for Maine (St. George, August 12, 1904, and Scarborough, 

 July 20, 1910) ; and two for Bermuda (January 22 and February, 

 1849) . Accidental in northern India and in Faroe Islands. 



Egg dates. — Northern Europe: Nine records, May 23 to June 

 16 ; five records, June 4 to 11. 



