428 BIRDS OF DUMFRIESSHIRE 
last century was quite an uncommon visitor to our shore. 
Its appearance nowadays in summer is fairly frequent, 
and such birds as are seen are believed to come from 
colonies in Cumberland and Kirkcudbrightshire. 
It is quite possible that the Little Tern may nest in the 
county undetected, but it should here be stated that Mr. J. 
Harkness, in 1908, informed me that no Terns are known to 
nest on the Dumfriesshire coast — a statement which refers 
to the whole sub-family Sternince as far as the county is 
concerned. 
The Little Tern arrives at its nesting-places in Great 
Britain in May, and departs again in September or October. 
Colonies are found around the coasts of the British Isles, 
more commonly in the south than in the north. It also 
nests in suitable localities throughout Europe south of the 
Baltic, as also in north Africa and the Asian plateau as far 
as north India ; while in winter it is found as far south as 
Cape Colony. 
THE LITTLE GULL. Larus minutus, Pallas. 
A rare and irregular visitor off our coast. 
A Little Gull killed by Mr. Irving Murray on January 13th, 
1894, and now in the Tullie House Museum, Carhsle, is 
thus recorded by the late H. A. Macpherson : " Although 
the Little Gull (Larus minutus) wanders to the Solway Firth 
at not infrequent intervals, I have never met with it on the 
Scottish side of our estuary until the present winter. On 
January 13th last an immature bird of this species was shot 
on the Solway between Annan and Dumfries."* An im- 
mature male, shot on September 16th, 1896,t as it was 
hovering over the mouth of the Esk in the immediate 
* Zoologist, 1894, p. 115. 
t Op. ciL, 1896, p. 385. 
