CASPIAN TERN 321 



tember. The black cap, the forked tail, and the red bill 

 mark it as a tern ; its size separates it from the other species 

 found on our coast. 



Gulls : Subfamily Larinae 



Six species of Gull occur commonly in New York and 

 New England. Most of them are found only at the sea- 

 coast, though the Herring Gull often occurs on large inland 

 waters, and the smaller Bonaparte's Gull is a rare migrant 

 inland. One species, the Laughing Gull, breeds from the 

 southern coast of Maine southward ; the Herring Gull 

 breeds all along the coast of Maine ; the other four spe- 

 cies are only migrants or winter visitants. The Kittiwake is 

 a common winter visitant, generally at some distance off 

 shore ; the Black-backed Gull is a not uncommon winter 

 visitant on the outer beaches ; the Bonaparte's Gull is 

 a common migrant, and the Bing-billed Gull is rare off 

 the New England coast, but a common winter visitant off 

 Long Island. All the Gulls are equally at home in the 

 air or on the water ; they also spend much of their time 

 standing on the exposed flats and sand-bars, generally in 

 flocks, sometimes of great size. They are great scaven- 

 gers, circling continually over the water, and when they 

 spy some bit of floating refuse, stooping to pick it up in 

 the bill ; they also subsist on dead fish cast up on the 

 beach. 



A Gull may be distinguished from a Tern, which it resem- 

 bles in general appearance and in its powers of flight, by its 

 rounded tail ; Terns, moreover, constantly plunge from a 

 height into the water, striking it with a splash ; of the Gulls 

 only the Kittiwake does this regularly. The brown Gulls 

 seen commonly in winter are immature Herring Gulls, of the 

 same species as the gray and white Gulls with which they 

 associate. 



