142 
BIRDS. PALMIPIDES. 
Sterna. 
yellow. In these different states of plumage, it has been termed Hed-legged 
Gull and Brown-headed Gull. — This species leaves Scotland in winter, but 
remains at that season on the English shores. 
231. L. capistratus . — Head and throat brown : outer quills 
with white shafts: tarsus inch. 
Temm. Orn. ii. 785. 
Length 13 /q inches. Bill and feet reddish-brown ; the former slender. 
The front brownish-grey ; the nape and fore-neck white. In other respects, 
and in its winter diess, it is like the black-headed gull. It differs, however^ 
in its diminutive proportions, in the brown tints of the bill and legs ; in the 
hood not descending to the nape, nor down the upper part of the fore-neck, 
and in the clear grey of the inner side of the wings. M. Temminck has 
separated this gull from the preceding, Avith which it appears to have been 
hitherto confounded by British naturalists. He states, that it is common in 
Orkney, and on the coast of Scotland and England ; but it does not appear to 
have occurred to any of our native ornithologists. 
STRAGGLERS. 
1 . L. atricilla. Laughing Gull. — Mont. Orn. Diet — The author just quo- 
ted states, that “ This species is larger than the black-headed gull ; length 
18 inches. It differs from that bird only in the legs, which are black ; the 
bill is, howei^'er, stronger, and the head larger.” Five birds of this species 
were observed by Montagu in August 1774, in a pool upon the Shingly Flats, 
near Winchelsea ; and two others near Hastings, in Sussex. 
2. L. minutus. Little Gull — Temm. Orn. ii, 787* — This species has the 
shafts of the quills brown, the ends of the feathers white, and the tarsus 
only 1 inch and 1 line in length. Its diminutive size, (not exceeding 10 in- 
ches in length), serves to distinguish it from all the other species of this genus. 
Montagu first described this gull, accompanied by a figure, in the Supp. to 
the Orn. Diet., from a specimen shot on the Thames near Chelsea, in the col- 
lection of Mr Blasted. — Mr Neill received another specimen, shot in autumn 
1824, on the shore of the Solway Frith, which he presented to the Edinburgh 
Museum. 
3. L, candidus. Snow-Bird. — Fab. Fauna, gr. 103 — L. eburneus, Temm. 
Orn. ii. 769. — The black feet, contrasted with the white plumage, distinguish 
this species. A solitary individual was killed in Balta Sound, Zetland, 13th 
December 1822. A description of its appearance was transmitted to the Wer- 
nerian Society (Wern. Mem. iv. 501.), by Mr Edmonston, whose zeal and 
success in illustrating the habits of the Zetland birds 'merit the highest praise. 
Gen. CII. STERNA. Tern. — Bill pointed, with the 
mandibles equal ; tarsi short. Tail forked. — The sexes 
are alike in plumage ; but the male is superior in size^ 
All the species leave the country during winter. 
232. S. Boys'll. Sandwich Tern. — Tarsus inch. Bill 
2 inches, black, with a yellow tip. Wings reach beyond the 
tail. Feet black. 
Sandwich T., Mont. Supp. Orn. Diet. Bewicks Brit. Birds, ii. 204. — S. 
cantiaca, Temm. Orn. ii. 735 — On the English coast. 
