426 



NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. 



for the breadth of four greater primary coverts. The exterior web of the outer primary, and 

 the ends of the first six are deep black *, most of them slightly tipped with white, the seventh 

 and eighth are merely blotched with black on their tips. The inner web of the first primary, 

 and the outer webs of the three following ones, with their shafts, are pure white. Bill 

 shining black. Inside of the mouth and legs bright carmine-red. Irides dark brown. 



Form. — Bill slender and nearly straight, conspicuously notched at the tip. It is much 

 compressed at the point, but its breadth at the base exceeds its depth. Wings two inches 

 longer than the tail, which is very slightly rounded laterally. 



The female is a little smaller. A number of specimens killed between the 20th of May 

 and 5th of July, agree exactly with the preceding. One killed on the 20th of May has 

 the exterior web of its second quill broadly edged with black for half its length. A young 

 male, and also a female (one year old?), killed June 4, have clove-brown markings on the 

 bastard wing, middle rows of the coverts, and tips of the secondaries and tertiaries ; the 

 white exterior border of the wing and the black markings on the quills are the same as in 

 the old bird. The head is white with the bases of the feathers deeply tinged greyish-black; 

 the end of the tail brown. Bill black. Legs flesh-coloured. 



A young bird in its first plumage, killed in the end of August, has the crown of the head, 

 back of the neck, scapulars and interscapulars, greyish-brown with paler tips. Middle of 

 the wing and tertiaries blackish-brown, the tips lighter ; bastard wing and primary coverts 

 blotched with the same. Throat and upper part of the breast faintly tinged with buff. Rest 

 of the plumage nearly as in the bird of one year. Bill brownish ; pale at the base beneath. 

 Legs clay-coloured. 



Lei 









Dimensions. 











Mature Bird. 



One yr. old I 



Yearling. 







Mature Bird. 



One yr. old 



Yearling. 



] 



rich. Lin. 



Inch. Lin. 



Inch. Lin. 







Inch. Lin. 



Inch. Lin. 



Inch. Lin. 



ngth, total 



15 C 



15 3 



15 



Lengtl 



of middle toe 



1 2| 



i if 



1 1* 



,, of tail 



4 3 



4 



4 6 



59 



of its nail 



3 



2| 



2| 



„ of wing . 



10 



10 



9 



11 



of inner toe 



llf 



11 



11 



,, of bill above 



1 3 



1 2 



1 1* 



11 



of hind toe . 



. 2± 



2i 



2| 



,, of bill to rictus . 



1 10 



1 8i 



1 8~ 



11 



of its nail 



1 



1 



1 



,, of tarsus 



1 51 



1 41 



1 4i 



1 ^2 











-R. 



91.1 11 



Larus minutus. 



(Pall 



as.) Little Gull. 







Genus, Larus, Linn. 



Mouette Pygmee (Larus minutus). Teaim., ii., p. 787. 



Larus minutus (Little gull). Sab. Frankl. Journ,, p. 696. 



A specimen obtained on Sir John Franklin's first expedition, was determined 

 by Mr. Sabine to be a young bird of the first year of this species, exactly accord- 

 ing- with M. Temminck's description. We have not that specimen to describe, 

 and none was procured on the second expedition. 



* The extent of black on the ends increases gradually from the first to the fourth, on which it measures above an 

 inch, diminishing again in the following ones. — R. 



