658 LARUS PHILADELPHIA, BONAPARTe's GULL. 



an angered ocean ceaselessly beat, to the low, sandy shores of the Gulf, 

 caressed by the soothing billows of a tropical sea. It follows the sinu- 

 osities of the two coasts with wonderful pertinacity, making excursions 

 up every bay and estuary, and threads the course of idl our three great 

 rivers, while performing its remarkably extensive migrations. Consid- 

 ering in what high latitudes it breeds, it is astonishing how early toward 

 the fall it again appears among us after its brief absence. The last 

 birds have not all left the United States in May ; some time in August 

 the young come straggling back, though they are not numerous until 

 the autumn has fairly set in. Perhaps some breed in the United States ; 

 of this, however, I have no personal knowledge, and at any rate, they 

 only do so along our northern tier of States. Very little is recorded of 

 its nidification and special breeding habits, and this is not so definite as 

 could be wished. Audubon says, at second hand, that it breeds on the 

 islands off Grand Menan ; I only know of its nesting in British America, 

 and this too merely from the labels of specimens examined. But I saw 

 a great many in Labrador, and about the mouth of the St. Lawrence, at 

 such time tlia^. rendered it pretty certain they had not bred far off. 



While in North Carolina I made some observation on the vernal mi- 

 gration, that I thought interesting. There these Gulls are simply birds 

 of })assage, none wintering or breeding. They appear early in April, or 

 M ith the tii'st genial weather, and may be seen through part or most of 

 jNIay ; then they go off', to return in September, and stay a month or so. 

 But in siiimg it was a succession of birds i)assing, ratlier than the same 

 individuals remaining so long. Thus from the first of April to the 

 twenty-second, in 1861), great numbers were over the bay, with a decided 

 preponderance of lull plumaged individuals. Then, v.ithout any marke<l 

 change in the weather or other apparent reason, none were to be seen 

 for a week or ten days. The lirst week in May, however, they became 

 more numerous than ever, and, what seemed singular, this last lot was 

 almost entirely composed of young birds — that is, birds only a year old, 

 as was shown by the pluuiage, lacking the hood, having the black bar 

 on the tail, and the ujtper parts imperfectly' blue, vai legated with gray 

 and brown. Evidently the old birds, hurrying north to breed, led the 

 van ; and the young, with no such important business on hand, cauui! 

 trooping leisurely in the rear. The question was, what would thesn 

 young birds do the ensuing summer'^ Would they reach the boreal 

 regions to which the great majority of the perfect tertile birds repair, 

 alter loitering so late on the Carolina coast? or did they only propose 

 to go part way, spend the summer frolicking, and return with soberi-r 

 intentions for another year ? I doubt that any breed until they are full 

 plumaged. 



Note. — The Chrcccoceplialits minnlns, by some iuchided among Noi'tU American birds, 

 Las no groniub^d cliiini to be so considered. 1 therefore omit the si>ecie8, which I can- 

 not recognize as an inhabitant of this country until some conclusive evidence is 

 brought forward. The whole claim may be seen to rest r.| ra an ideutilieation of 

 Sabine's, who, in all probability, mistook jihlladclphta for minutns. 



Genus EHODOSTETRIA, Maccjil 



Lams, Macgil., 1824 : Rich., 1825 {_nec Linx.). 

 liossia, Y>v., Comp. List, lH3ri, {!2 {uec Owen). 



HhodoKfitliiu. MACf;iL., Man. Orn. ii, 1842, 253 (type Larus roseiis, Macgtl.). — Lawr., B. N. 

 A. 1858, BSii.— CoUES, Pr. A. N. S. Phila. 18G2, 311.— Gkay, List Br. B. 1863, 229. 



Gen. ciiak. "Body moderate; neck rather short; head ovate; bill short, rather 

 slender; upper niaiulible with the dorsal lino straiglit for half its length, arcnate-de- 

 curvate toward the enil ; lower mandible with the inlercrural space narrow, the knot 

 blighl, the dorsal line concave, the tip narrow; legs short; tibi;e bare for a very short 



