302 



LITTLE GULL. 



tion of the limbs would be similar to the adult, in which this bird 

 essentially differs. No author, to our knowledge, has described the 

 spotted gallinule in its early plumage to be different from that of the 

 adult ; and we know that in neither the land-rail, the gallinule, nor 

 in the water-rail, which is a bird of similar habits, does any mate- 

 rial difference exist between the young and old birds. In fact, the 

 plumage and general appearance are so extremely dissimilar to that of 

 the spotted gallinule, that if this bird had been exotic, a comparison 

 would never have been thought necessary ; but as the species of the 

 genus are not numerous, and only three of those known to inhabit this 

 country, the subject required scrupulous investigation, especially as no 

 such bird appears to have been described by any ornithological writer. 



Another specimen of the Little Gallinule was shot near Ashburton, in 

 Devonshire, in the year 1809. Another was shot on the banks of the 

 Ware, on the 6th of May, 1807.* 



LITTLE GODWIT.— A name for the young of the Stone Plover. 



LITTLE GREBE.— A name for the Dabchick. 



LITTLE GULL (Larus rninutus, Pallas.) 



* Larus minutus, Lath. Ind. Orn. 2. p. 813. — Gmel. Syst. p. 595 Benicken ann- 



der witter, 3. p. 141. —Nov. Act. Stock, 1783. 2. No. 1. p. 120 Pallas, Reise, 



3. p. 702. 3 Larus attricillades, Falk, Reise, 3. 355 — Little Gull, Lath. Syn. 6. 



—Temm. Man. d'Orn. 2. 789.— Flem. Br. Anim. 142. p. 391. 17.— La plus 

 petite des mouettes, Sonn. — Buff. Ois. 24. p. 288. 



Length rather exceeding ten inches; length of the bill to the feathers 

 on the forehead, rather more than three quarters of an inch ; the upper 

 mandible straight for half its length from the base, the other half con- 

 siderably arcuated; lower mandible straight to the angle, (two-thirds 

 of its length from the base,) from whence it slopes to the point ; the 

 inside of the mouth red orange. The forehead and crown of the head 

 white ; the back of the head and a trifle of the back of the neck con- 

 tiguous dark cinereous, with a hoary tinge ; behind the eye a white 

 streak; the lower coverts of the ears black, forming a very conspicuous 

 spot of that colour ; between the bill and eye white, but at the anterior 

 corner the orbit is black, from whence to the black spot on the ear is a 

 mixture of dark cinereous and white ; the whole upper part of the body 

 appears of a fine cinereous grey, like that of the herring, and most of 

 the lighter coloured gulls, but, upon lifting up the scapulars, the lower 

 part of the back is black ; the upper tail-coverts pure white ; except 

 three or four feathers of the last series, which are tipped with dusky ; 

 the tail is slightly concave at the end, but as there is not a regular gra- 

 dation in the length of the feathers, and an evident dissimilarity in the 

 two sides, there can be no doubt but that they have been recently 

 moulted ; all the feathers are white, with their tips black for nearly an 



