178 BULLETIN 113, UNITE.D STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



flocks of these pretty birds are frequently seen beating back and 

 forth, adroitly catching insects on the wing, and their stomachs are 

 often packed full of such food. Many insects are gleaned from the 

 surface of still pools or picked up from the drift rows of decaying 

 vegetation along the shores. Mr. Arthur H. Norton (1909) says that 

 in Maine it "has been found feeding over rafts of drifting sea- 

 weeds, when its diet was found to consist of maggots, probably 

 Coleopa p'igida — a fly that breeds at high-water mark in decaying 

 seaweeds {Algae and Zostera)^ Nuttall (1834) examined two that 

 " were gorged with ants and their eggs, and some larvae of moths in 

 their pupa state." On the seacoast they live on small fish, shrimps, 

 and other surface-swimming crustaceans, marine worms, and other 

 small aquatic animals. Apparently very little, if any, vegetable 

 food is taken. 



Behavior. — The flight of this species is very light and buoyant, as 

 well as active and graceful. It is more tern-like than gull-like, and 

 it might easily be overlooked in a flock of loitering terns. When 

 moving about looking for food its flight seems listless and desultory ; 

 every stroke of its long wings lifts its light body perceptibly, as 

 it drives it along much faster than it seems. Like snowflakes 

 wafted by the wind the loose flock drifts along; one hardly realizes 

 that it has come before it has swept away beyond our vision. Yet 

 with all this apparent listlessness there is no lack of the power of 

 control; it can breast the heaviest storms, it can rise and fall over 

 the crests of the largest waves, and can go whither it will with the 

 utmost ease and grace. It swims with equal buoyancy and grace, 

 resting on the surface as lightly as an eggshell. I have sometimes 

 seen it dive, though its food is often picked up while it is swimming 

 on the surface ; but more often it drops lightly down in the air, pick- 

 ing the morsel from the water with its bill and perhaps touching 

 the surface with its feet. 



Its voice is not powerful, but when feeding in flocks it is often 

 quite talkative. Doctor Townsend (1905) says that "occasionally 

 it emits a harsh, rasping cry, but as a rule it is silent." Keltje 

 Blanchan (1898) describes its note as " a plaintive shrill, but rather 

 feeble cry, that was almost a whistle." 



Fall. — Of the fall migration of this gull in Ohio, Prof. Lynds 

 Jones (1909) writes: 



In my experience this gull is far more numerous on both sides of Cedar Point 

 sand spit than elsewhere along the lake, and the times of maximum numbers 

 occur between November 1 and December 30. During the last three winters I 

 have found a flock of from 50 to 500 birds ranging along the shore of the sand 

 spit as long as there remained open water, which was well into January. They 

 act much like terns diving headlong into the water for fish, but can always be 

 readily distinguished from them by the almost sparrow-like conversational notes 

 instead of the harsh ter-r-r of the terns. They seem to prefer the vicinity of 



