OK ARTS AND SCIENCES. 67 



was frozen except in places where the current was rapid. Mrs. 

 Celia Thaxter ('70, p. 211) in writing of the sea birds in sum- 

 mer at the Isles of Shoals, mentions that " the little yellow gulls, 

 just out of the egg, ran tumbling about among the stones," and 

 it is not unlikely that they formerly bred there. 



Note: Larus delawarensis Ord. Ring-billed Gull. 



Mrs. I'.. E. Webster ( :oob) has recorded as of this species a bird cap- 

 tured at Caniptou Village in November, 1898. I am informed, however, 

 that the identification is in doubt, and the species is therefore without a 

 positive record for the state, though it should unquestionably occur on 

 the coast. 



1(>. Larus Philadelphia (Ord). Bonaparte's Gull. 

 A spring and fall migrant and rare winter resident on the 

 coast, where it is probably more common than the few observa- 

 tions might seem to indicate ; occasional inland on the larger 

 bodies of water. Records are at hand from the following locali- 

 ties : Charlestown , where an immature bird was taken on the 

 Connecticut by Mr. W. M. Buswell, August 3, 1897 ; Milford, 

 single birds several times taken, as Mr. J. P. Melzer writes me; 

 Plymouth, a flock of about 100 birds noted in May, 1877, by 

 " PI. B. E." ('77, p. 345) ; Portsmouth, a male is in the Bryant 

 collection, Mus. Comp. Zool., taken Oct. 20, 1885; Rye Beach, 

 Mr. William Brewster tells me that he found it common during 

 migration in late summer ; Scabrook, Mr. A. A. Eaton writes me 

 of a specimen which he mounted Feb. 15, 1890; Sunapee Lake, 

 Dr. W. H. Fox writes me that an immature bird was shot in 

 August, 1880; Webster, Mr. C. F. Goodhue writes me of two tak- 

 en on a pond, one about 1890, the other during the last of Aug- 

 ust, 1897. 



Dates : May ; August 3 to October 20. Winter. 



1H. Sterna liiruiido Finn. Commom Tern. 

 A spring and fall migrant, and formerly a summer resident 

 on the coast, where Mrs. Celia Thaxter ('70, p. 211) records 

 that they used to breed on Duck Island among the Isles of 

 Shoals. She mentions that the natives called them " med- 

 rakes. " The " tee-arr or fishing gull, Sterna mimita, " 

 mentioned by Belknap (1792, in, p. 169) may also have been 



