LARID^ — THE GULLS AND TERNS — LARUS. 239 



of the Avater, in doing whicli it immerses only its head and neck. Major Wedderburn 

 mentions the taking of a number of examples in Bermuda, Feb. 23, 1848. 



Kichardson states that this species — called by him argentoides — breeds on Mel- 

 ville Peninsula. He describes the eggs as having an oil-green color, and being marked 

 with spots and blotches of blackish brown and subdued purplish gray. This bird is 

 noted at Hudson's Bay for robbing the nets set in the fresh-water lakes. 



In the summers of 1850 and 1851, spending several weeks on Grand Menan, in 

 the Bay of Fundy — a locality visited by Audubon in May, 1833 — I found this 

 species more or less abundant, and breeding on the ground on most of the unin- 

 habited islands, and on the largest one breeding on the high, inaccessible cliffs, or 

 very generally constructing nests high up in tall and almost inaccessible spruce-trees. 

 Audubon was informed by Mr. Frankland, who lived on Whitehead — a part of Grand 

 Menan, but insulated at high tide — that the remarkable habit of these birds of con- 

 structing their nests in trees had been acquired by them within his recollection ; and 

 that when he first settled there — many years before — these birds all built their 

 nests on the moss of the open ground. They were induced thus to conceal their eggs 

 and young in consequence of the depredations committed upon their nests ; and they 

 gradually began to put these on the trees in the thickest part of the woods. At the 

 time I visited these islands an attempt had been made to arrest or limit these depre- 

 dations ; and persons were prohibited by the proprietors from taking any eggs after 

 the 20tli of June. The sparseness of the population, however, and the distance of 

 most of these resorts from the oversight of those interested in enforcing these rules, 

 rendered them almost inoperative. 



A nest of one of this species, built near the top of a tall spruce, and at least 

 sixty feet above the ground, was brought to me with its contents. It was composed 

 entirely of long, fine, flexible grasses, evidently gathered, when green, from the salt 

 marshes, and carefully woven into a circular fabric. Taking into consideration the 

 clumsy web-feet and the hardly less unwieldy bill of the bird, it was certainly a 

 remarkable structure. The materials were strongly interwoven and compacted, and 

 the nest could be handled without coming to pieces ; indeed it had been thrown to 

 me from a height of fifty or sixty feet, and remained uninjured. It contained three 

 eggs, nearly fresh, whose large size indicated that the parent bird was very old. 

 The nest measured about eighteen inches in diameter, its sides being three or four 

 inches thick, and its cavity at the centre at least four inches deep. The bird remained 

 upon her eggs until she had been nearly reached, and flew over our heads, screaming, 

 when we were despoiling her of her treasures. 



The nests found upon the ground varied exceedingly, some being merely a shal- 

 low depression with a slight lining, and others large, and elaborately built of mosses 

 and fine bent. The eggs were never more than three in number ; and when there 

 were less, they were almost invariably fresh. The Gulls were shy ; and without 

 exception flew from their nests on the ground on our approach Avhile we were still 

 at a distance from them. Several years later I found these Gulls very abundant on 

 all the rocky islands and among the high cliffs of the upper parts of the Bay of 

 Fundy, on the Isle of Hant, at Cape Split, and at Porsboro. In almost all cases they 

 were in inaccessible places, where they must have been in nearly complete security. 

 In such situations and in their nests in trees the young remain until they can fly. 

 Those that hatch on the ground leave their nests to hide in the crevices of rocks 

 and under any other convenient shelter, and resort to the water long before they 

 can fly. 



jNIr. B. Kennicott found this species breeding on the southern shores of Great 



