LITTLE GULL. 



LARUS MINUTUS, Pall. 



Larus minutus, Pallas, Reise Russ. Reichs, hi., App. p. 702 

 (1770) ; Naurn. x. p. 242; Hewitson, ii. p. 490; Yarr. 

 ed. 4, iii. p. 589; Dresser, viii. p. 373. 



Gavia minuta, Macg. v. p. 613. 



Mouette pygmee, French ; Zwerg-Muve, German ; Gaviota, 

 Spanish. 



This very graceful species is by no means a very 

 uncommon visitor to our coasts, especially to those of 

 our eastern counties, but its visits are very irregular, 

 generally taking place in the autumn or winter, and 

 there is, so far as I am aware, not even a recorded 

 suspicion of its having ever nested in our Islands. 

 Specimens in the adult summer dress, with black heads, 

 have been met with in Yorkshire and in Ireland. My 

 personal acquaintance with this Gull is confined to the 

 Mediterranean ; it was by no means uncommon, although 

 not very abundant, in the Bay of Corfu during the late 

 autumn and winter months, but disappeared about the 

 beginning of March, and I observed it frequently on the 

 east coast of Sicily, at Messina, Catania, Agosta, and 

 Syracuse, and now and then in the harbours of Malta, 

 during the last-named month. Its habits, as observed 

 by me on these occasions, exactly resembled those of the 

 other European Gulls with which it consorted; it is very 



