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e as in younger examples. Professor Ansted mentions the Laughing Gull in his list, by which I presume he means the present species, and marks it as only occurring in Guernsey. There is no specimen in the Museum. As it is just possible that the Mediterranean Black-headed Gull, _Larus melanocephalus_, may occur in the Islands,--as it does so in France as far as Bordeaux, and has once certainly extended its wanderings as far as the British Islands,--it may be worth while to point out the principal distinctions. In the adult bird the head of _L. melanocephalus_ in the breeding-season is black, not brown as in _L. ridibundus_, and the first three primaries are white with the exception of a narrow streak of black on the outer web of the first, and not white with a black margin as in _L. ridibundus_. In younger birds, however, the primaries are a little more alike, but the first primary of _L. melanocephalus_ is black or nearly so; in this state Mr. Howard Saunders has given plates of the first three primaries of _L. melanocephalus_ and _L. ridibundus_, both being from birds of the year shot about March, in his paper on the _Larinae_, published in the 'Proceedings of the Zoological Society' for the year 1878. 172. LITTLE GULL. _Larus minutus_, Pallas. French, "Mouette pygmee."--I have never met with this bird myself in the Channel Islands, nor have I seen a Channel Island specimen, but Mr. Harvie Brown, writing to the 'Zoologist' from St. Peter's Port, Guernsey, under date January 25th, says, "In the bird-stuffer's shop here I saw a Little Gull in the flesh, which had been shot a few days ago."[37] Mr. Harvie Brown does not give us any more information on the subject, and does not even say whether the bird was a young bird or an adult in winter plumage; but probably it was a young bird of the year in that sort of young Kittiwake or Tarrock plumage in which it occasionally occurs on the south coast of Devon. Professor Ansted does not include the Little Gull in his list, and there is no specimen in the Museum. 173. GREAT SHEARWATER. _Puffinus major_, Faber. French, "Puffin majeur."[38]--I think I may fairly include the Great Shearwater in my list as an occasional wanderer to the Islands, as, although I have not a Channel Island specimen, nor have I seen it near the shore or in any of the bays, I did see a small flock of four or five of these birds in July, 1866, when crossing from Guernsey to Torquay. We were certain
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