42 



BIRDS OF AMERICA 



John Maclair Boraston. an English ornithol- 

 ogist, inckided the following characterization of 

 the Great Black-backed Gull in his book Birds 

 by Land and Sea: 



"A staider and more deliberate flight marks the 

 movements of the Great Black-backed and as 

 he passes slowly before you, his eye on a level 

 with your own, the brow seems to beetle in a set 

 frown, and the glass catches the expression of 

 the deeply set eye. It seems an old eye, wise, 

 authoritative. And, in fact, the bird may have 

 been old when you were a child, for it requires 

 four years for a Great Black-back to acquire all 

 the marks of maturitv, and its lifetime may well 



pleasure is aroused, he will return again and 

 again to swoop at you with menacing cry. ' The 

 sea is mine,' he seems to say ; ' and the smit- 

 ten rocks. Get back to your brick-and-mortar 

 cages with their glass peep-holes.' A century 

 of the sea may well give a sense of prescriptive 

 right." 



This beautiful and dignifiecl bird is frequently 

 seen as a winter visitant ofT the shores of Long 

 Island (between September and March) and on 

 the Great Lakes. Its breeding places are con- 

 fined to the Atlantic coast. It is very shy but 

 exceedingly noisy, ^^'illiam Brewster says that 

 he identified four distinct cries: "a braying ha- 





Drawing by R. I. Brashe 



GREAT BLACK-BACKED GtJLL (J nat. size) 

 Four years are required for this Gull to attain maturity 



be a century. It will take offence at your 

 presence more readily than the other Gulls, and 

 as it passes, utters a low Ha-ha-ha-ha! and sails 

 on solemnly leaving you admonished. If his dis- 



ha-ha, a deep kcow, kcozc, a short barking note 

 and a long drawn groan, very loud and decidedly 

 impressive." The kcow cry suggests the note 

 of the Green Heron. 



Other Names. — Common Gull 

 Gull ; Lake Gull ; Winter Gull. 



General Description. — Length. 24 inches. Color, 

 pure white with grayish-blue mantle. 



HERRING GULL 



Larus argentatus Pontoppidan 



.\. O V. Xunilier 51 See Color Plate 5 



Harbor Gull ; Sea 



Color. — .Adults in Summer: Head, neck. tail, and 

 under parts, pure white; mantle, urayish-bluc ; outer 

 primaries, dusky with white spots and tips : center 

 ones, color of inantle with black subtcnninal bar and 



