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