LITTLE GULL.
LAliUS MINUTUS, Pall.
Larus minutns, Pallas, Reisc Russ. Reichs, iii., App. p. 702
(1776); Naum. x. p. 242; Hewitson, ii. p. 190; Yarr.
ed. 4, iii. p. 589; Dresser, viii. p. 373.
Gavia minuta, Macg. v. p. 613.
Mouette pygmee, French; Zwerg-M'dve, German; Gaviota,
Spanish.
This very graceful species is by no means a very
uncommon visitor to our coasts, especially to those of
our eastern counties, but its visits are very irregular,
generally taking place in the autumn or winter, and
there is, so far as I am aware, not even a recorded
suspicion of its having ever nested in our Islands.
Specimens in the adult summer dress, with black heads,
have been met with in Yorkshire and in Ireland. My
personal acquaintance with this Gull is confined to the
Mediterranean ; it was by no means uncommon, although
not very abundant, in the Bay of Corfu during the late
autumn and winter months, but disappeared about the
beginning of March, and I observed it frequently on the
cast coast of Sicily, at Messina, Catania, Agosta, and
Syracuse, and now and then in the harbours of Malta,
during the last-named month. Its habits, as observed
by me on these occasions, exactly resembled those of the
other European Gulls with which it consorted; it is very