LARID;E— THE GULLS AND TERNS. 231 



and thence southward to the Gulf of Mexico. The severe cold 

 of January, 1884, drove it almost entirely out of Illinois. One 

 was seen at Saint Louis after the river began to be full of fioat- 

 ing ice. It returned to Saint Louis January 29; two days later 

 a party of eighteen went north above the Mississippi. 



The following very interesting account of the manner in which 

 the inhabitants of Newfoundland rear these gulls for food is 

 published by Mr. Win. Palmer, in the "Proceedings" of the 

 United States National Museum (Vol. XIII., pp. 254-255): 



"The well-fattened young of this species may be said to form 

 a not insignificant part of the winter diet of the Newfoundland 

 fishermen at outlying places. Capt. J. W. Collins in an inter- 

 esting paper on sea birds, in the Report of the U. S. Fish Com- 

 mission for 1882, alludes to this habit of the coast fishermen 

 as follows: 



'It may be of interest to mention in this connection that the 

 coast fishermen of Newfoundland capture the young of the sea- 

 gulls (generally of the larger species) while they are yet nest- 

 lings, and carefully rear them until they are full grown, feeding 

 them chiefly on fish A single family may have a dozen or 

 twenty of these young birds. I have frequently seen ten or a 

 dozen young gulls in a pen at Belloram, Fortune Bay, and 

 there were a number of such pens in the little village. In many 

 places on the Newfoundland coast these birds, 1 have been told, 

 occupy the same place that with us is filled by the domestic 

 fowls. Instead of the conventional turkey for the holidays, the 

 coast fisherman is satisfied with the young ami fat guUs which 

 he has raised. 3 



■I have been unable to find any other published accounl of 

 the utilization of the young of this species as food. While bhe 

 <; nunim* was at Little-Seldom-Come-By Harbor, Fogo Island, 

 I had an opportunity of examining a pen of these birds, which 

 ;nv kepi in bhe same manner as one keeps pigs. The birds, of 

 which there were eight of differenl sizes, belonged to an appar- 

 ently prosperous fisherman. A corner of the garden had been 

 converted into a pen aboul 5 feel square. Wishing to obtain 

 ;i specimen of the young, I made known bo bhe good housewife 

 my reasons inr desiring one, but she simply could not under 



stand that I wanted it as a specimen, bo the husband was 



