A FREAK OF NATURE.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR.") Sue—Allow me to thank your coreespondent for his interesting letter about the black-headed gulirin Si James's Park. As the bird has been seen there for .two years, I think Mr. W. M. Crook's supposition that it is a case of melanism must be correct, if the bird is indeed a specimen of the black-headed gull. These birds, in normal condition, have red legs, and the beak is also red. There is, however, a smaller species, the least of the gulls in size, called the little gull, Lents minutus, which until two years old is mush darker than the black- headed gull, the head of which is not black but dark brown in the nuptial plumage, whereas the little gull has a jet-black head and neck in the nesting season, and its beak and legs are of a very bright reel. It would be easily recognized from its small size, about half that of the black-headed species. It is uncommon, and adult specimens are especially rare in
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