GULLS 



53 



wliicli they find on tide flats, in clianni-ls, and on 

 kelp-beds. 



A ])ecu!iarit\- of this t>ird's lli.nht, which is 

 ,s,fraceftd and fairly swift, is that each ^.trokc ot 

 the winijs swings the body slightly upward. Its 

 maneuvers on the wing are often very skillful. 



especially a triclc it has of suddenly stopping its 

 ])rogress and swee])ing backw.ard and downward 

 to inspect an object seen on the siu'face of the 

 water. In gener.al iis llight is more like that 

 of the Terns than the ( iulls. 



'(^i. 



BONAPARTE'S GULL (', nat. size) 

 Although a shore bird, it is often found in plowed 



fields feeding on earthworms 

 Drawing by R. I. Brasher 



/ 



.^ 



f^ ^ 



"T^l^- 



SABINE' 

 Xema sabini 



.\. O. U. .Xumbcr Ci 



Other Names.— Hawk-tailed Gull ; Fork-tailed Gull. 



General Description. — Length. 14 inches. Color, 

 white with bluish-gray mantle and dark slate hood. 

 Tail, forked with the feathers rounded, not pointed, at 

 the ends. 



Color. — Adults in Summer; Heads with hoods of 

 dark slate hounded behind by a narrow border of black: 

 mantle. hluish-Kray ; edge of wing, black ; five outer 

 primaries and their coverts, black with small white 

 tips; rest of primaries, white: outer secondaries, white: 

 the gray of mantle extending diagonally across to end 

 of inner secondaries; neck, tail, and entire under parts, 

 white, the last with rosy hue ; bill, black to angle, yellow, 

 chrome, or orange from angle to tip ; gape, vermilion ; 

 feet, black; iris, reddish; edges of eyelids, orange. 

 Adults im Winter: Entire head, white with some dark 

 feathers on crown and sides; bill, duller: no rosy hue; 



S GULL 



(./. Sabine) 



See Color I 'late 



otherwise as in summer plumage. YouNc;: Head, back 

 iif neck, and upper parts in general, transversely barred 

 with slate-gray and dull whitish; under parts, white: 

 tail, white with a bar of black one inch wide on middle 

 feathers, this color narrowing outward : bill, dusky 

 flesh color ; legs, flesh color. 



Nest and Eggs. — Ne.st: A depression in moss or 

 >and, lined with fine dry grass. Eccs : 2 or 3, deep 

 olive-brown obscurely spotted and blotched with darker 

 shades of the same. 



Distribution. — Arctic regions to .South America: 

 breeds on the coast of Alaska from Kuskokwim River 

 lo Norton Sound, and in northern Mackenzie, northern 

 Keewatin, and northern Greenland, and on Taimyr 

 Peninsula in northwestern Siberia ; in migration on 

 both coasts of United States and casual in interior; 

 winters along the coast of Peru. 



