NATATORES. LAR1DÆ. and then in the possession of Mr. Plasted of that place, at
T H E L IT T L E GULL.
Larus minutus, Little Gull, Mo'St. Supp. Ornith. Drct.
,, ,, „ ■„ Bewick, Brit. Birds;'Vol. ii. p. 246?*1“
_ j, ■, ,, ' " " ,, _t JFtjbm. Brit. Ap. p.,1-42. ■ .
, , '* , , 7 , t , j, ISELBY.Brit, Ornith^ yol. ii. p. 484.
,, ,, ,, J enïns, Brit. Vert.'-pi 271. ._
Cliroicocephalus „ - ,, ,, Eyton, Rare Brit. Birds, p.s#3ftMs
X e tn a ' „ ,, : Gould, Birds of Europe, pt. xi.
Larus „ Mouette pygmée, T e m m . Man. d’Ornith. vol|||i| p. 787.
T h i s interesting Litl^ljp Gull, the smallest I believe ©fits
genus, was first described and figured-as a British bird by
Colonel Montagu,'in the Appendix to thé Supplement of his
Ornithological Dictionary, from a.young bird in the plumage
of the first year that was shot on the Thames near Chelsea,
the sale of whose collection it passed into the possession of
Mr. Leadbeater. Mr. Bullock’s celebrated collection contained
two specimens in ' 1819 which were then considered
very rare. Since that time various specimens have occurred
in different states of plumage. Mr. Selby has noticed one
killed in the Frith of C|yde. Dr. Neill obtained a specimen
from thé Solway, in the autumn of 1824, which was presented
fry^him to. the.-Edinburgh Museum. An adult bird, in summer
plumage, when. it has a fine black head, was shot in Ireland,
_©n\the’fiver Shannon, as’ recorded.by Wm. Thompson,
Esq. ; the only specimen obtainèd in thé British Islands in
that state : of plumage that I am aware of. This species has
also;been killed. on. the shores of Cornwall and Devonshire,
b u t oeeurs more frequently on? the eastern .cohst.- ’ I have referred
to one killed, on the. Thames. Dr. Waring gave Mr.
Leadbeater a beautiful adult specimen in winter-plumage that
was.shot at the. mouth of a. small' river in Essex. The late
Mr. Hoÿ obtained one on . the Suffolk. coast in .1832 ; and
Mr. EïdlöTj.of Lowestoff; obtained a< specimen iti that vicinity.
I t has been met with at Yarmouth in Norfolk. Mr. Hawk-
ridge, ; of Scarborough,- shot, a young bird there in November,
18$6, and obligingly allowed me the use of it for this work ;
the figure and description of the young bird of the year here
gifqn,.,were ‘taken from that, Specimen. Mr. A. Hancock, of
Newcastle, has noticed one killed in September, 1835, at the
mouth of thé Tyije, and it, has. also been taken in Scotland.
Professor Nilsson says this species is a summer-visiter to
the marshes in the vicinity, of the Baltic and Gottland, where
it breeds, but he-has never seen the eggs ; it is also said to
visit Russia and Siberia. It is included by the ornithologists
of Germany among the birds óf that country. M. Temminck
says he has killed two, and examined several others in Holland.
: Professor -Necker and Dr. Schinz have recorded four
or five instances of this species having been taken about dif