315 
THE LITTLE GULL. 
Larus minutus, Pall. 
Is extremely rare. 
On the 5th of August, 1840, 1 saw in the museum of the Dublin 
Natural History Society a beautiful adult specimen of this bird 
(the first in this plumage known to have occured in the British 
Islands) which had been shot by Walter Boyd, Esq., of the 97th 
Regiment, in the month of May of that year, between Shannon 
Harbour and Shannon Bridge, on the river of the same name. There 
was a pair of them ; the other proved wild after its companion 
had been killed : they were in company with the common black- 
headed gull ( L . ridibundus ).* 
A beautiful adult little gull was shot in the estuary about three 
miles distant from Belfast, on the 23rd of December, 1847. It 
came under my examination within an hour after being killed, 
when the following description was drawn up : — 
in. lin. 
Length (total) from point of bill to end of tail . . . 10 6 
,, of bill above . . . . . . . . 0 11 
„ „ to rictus ....... 1 6 
„ of wing from carpus 9 2 
„ of tarsus 10 
„ of middle toe exclusive of nail ..... 1 0 
“ Eorehead, cheeks, and a [small] space behind the eyes pure 
white ” (Jenyns, p. 271). All the under plumage of a beautiful 
roseate tint ; a spot at the anterior angle of the eye black ; oc- 
ciput, nape, and ear-coverts dark-grey 'of different shades, 
darkest or blackish-grey on ear-coverts ; upper part of the 
body and wings pale bluish-ash ; plumes beautifully firm in tex- 
* In an article on Gulls, published in the * Irish Penny Journal ’ for Sept. 26, 
1840, and signed “ J. E. P.” (Capt. Portloek), this little gull was mentioned. Mr. 
H. H. Dombrain, in ‘Saunders’s Newsletter 5 of December 4, 1840, alluded to his 
having noticed the occurrence of the bird previous to Capt. Portloek, but without 
stating where. 
