5 ° 
allen’r naturalist’s library. 
win^-coverts pearly-grey, but the median and greater^ coverts 
blackish, edged with white at the ends ; bastard-wing and 
primary-coverts black; the primaries black along the outer 
web and down the inner side of the shaft, the rest of the inner 
web white for its whole extent, except at the tip, which is 
black, with a white spot at the end ot the quill ; the inner 
primaries slaty-grey externally and along the inner edge of the 
shaft, the tip white with a suh-terminal black bar, the black 
lessening and the white extending till the secondaries are 
almost entirely white, excepting for a longitudinal patch of 
blackish towards the end of the outer web ; tail-feathers white, 
with a black band across the end of all but the outermost ; 
crown of head blackish, the forehead and eyebrows white ; the 
sides of the face white, with some streaks of black behind the 
eye ; entire under surflice of body pure white, including the 
under wing-coverts, axillaries, and quill-lining. 
Young in First Winter. — Resembles the winter plumage of the 
adult, but is easily distinguished by the black band at the end 
of the tail, and the broad black band across the wing, formed 
by the median and greater coverts. The white lining to the 
quills also distinguishes a young bird at once. 
Range in Great Britain. — The Little Gull sometimes visits us 
in largo numbers, mostly in autumn and winter, but, as might 
be expected, the greater number of occurrences take place on 
our eastern and southern coasts, those on the western coasts 
and in Ireland being much fewer in number. 
Range Outside the British Islands. — In summer, Mr. Saunders 
says that the present species inhabits the lakes and marshy 
districts of sub-Arctic and temperate Europe, extending 
southw'ards in winter to the Mediterranean. Through 
temperate Asia it is found up to the mouth of the Amur 
River and the Sea of Okhotsk, but has not been noticed in 
Mongolia or China. It has once been obtained in Northern 
India, and has been known to wander to the Faeroe Islands, 
and even to New York State in North America. 
Habits. — The small size of the Little Gull distinguishes it at 
a glance from any of the other British species, and it is much 
more easily approached than most of the latter. It breeds in 
