GULLS AND TERNS AT HOME 409 



" Are the Gulls still nesting, Uncle Roy ? And what 

 are those dark streaky birds over there ? " 



'^ These are left-over eggs that did not hatch, for 

 nesting is over in July at latest, and the dark birds are 

 young Gulls in their first plumage. They are brown- 

 ish gray, streaked and spotted as you see, while the 

 old birds are snow-white with pearl-gray backs, and 

 black and Avhite wing-markings in the summer, though 

 their winter dress is not quite so pure, being streaked 

 with gray on the neck." 



'' Then the very dark Gulls I have seen off our beach 

 in winter are the young ones ? " said Rap ; " I never 

 knew that before. I don't believe many people remem- 

 ber how birds change their colors, and a great many 

 never heard about it at all, I guess." 



" Gulls walk very nicely," said Nat. '' Much better 

 than Ducks ; and how they bob up and down like little 

 boats when they float I " 



''Wake! wake! wake! wake!" screamed half a dozen, 

 flying up as if to tell the Brotherhood of the coming 

 of strangers. 



'' What can be the matter with all those Sea Swal- 

 lows on the other side of the island ? " asked Nat as 

 they walked across, and a flock of a hundred or more 

 Terns angled by, crying mournfully. " What a very 

 sad noise they are making — do you think they are 

 afraid of us ? " 



" They have reason enough to cry and be sad," 

 answered Olaf, who was walking on, a little way ahead. 

 "They have been driven from almost all these islands 

 — shot for their pretty feathers, and had their nests 

 robbed. There wouldn't be any here now, only that 



