LITTLE GULL. 303 



inch, except the outer feather, which is nearly all white, having only a 

 small dusky spot at the end on the inner web ; the tips are slightly 

 edged with dirty white ; the wings have a mixture of black, white, and 

 cinereous, but the former greatly predominates ; the ridge of the wing 

 from the body to the elbow is cinereous, intermixed with dusky for 

 nearly half an inch in breadth ; all the rest of the coverts are black, 

 several of the lower series slightly tipped with white ; the greater quills 

 are elegantly marked, being white, with the exterior web, the shaft, 

 and part of the inner web close to the shaft, the tip and part of the 

 inner margin black, somewhat like the quill feathers of the magpie ; 

 the three first have a small speck of white at the tip, in the others the 

 white spot increases, till on the seventh feather the white occupies the 

 place of the black at the tip ; the secondaries are more or less cinereous 

 on the outer web, edged with dusky black towards the base, their tips 

 and inner webs white, with more or less black towards the point, close 

 to the shaft ; the tertials are mostly black, with a slight edging of 

 white at the tip ; the whole under part from chin to tail is pure white, 

 but the cinereous on the back comes very forward on the sides of the 

 breast. The legs rather exceed an inch in length to the knee, and 

 are bare of feathers for more than a quarter of an inch above the knee ; 

 the foot is small, the inner toe considerably shorter than the others ; 

 the middle toe a trifle longer than the outer, measuring rather more 

 than an inch, including the claw; these, with the webs and legs, appear 

 to have been yellowish, for they have a strong tinge of that colour 

 even after drying. The wing appears to exceed the tail above an inch 

 and a half when closed, and the two first quills are nearly of the same 

 length, from the tips of which to the elbow is eight inches and a half. 



This is another bird of rare occurrence, which has fallen to our lot 

 to record in the British Fauna. It was shot on the Thames, near 

 Chelsea, and is in the collection of Mr. Plasted, of that place, to whom 

 we take this opportunity of expressing our obligations, for having suf- 

 fered the bird to travel into Devonshire for the purpose of inspection. 

 This specimen of Larus minutus is the first that has, we believe, been 

 identified in this country, and is probably extremely rare on any part of 

 the continent so far south. It is not in the plumage of maturity, and 

 consequently is more interesting, because we perceive the same gradual 

 changes as have been noticed in all the species of gulls familiar to us. 

 It is in an intermediate state, or first change between the nestling and 

 the adult. In the adult state of plumage, the head and beginning of 

 the neck are black ; the rest of the neck, and under parts of the body 

 white ; the back, scapulars, and coverts of the wings cinereous-grey ; 



