LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TERNS. 195 



that I have repeatedly mistaken them for plover when the light was poor and 

 I could not easily make out their markings. The young, with their white 

 Ijreasts and dark backs, even more closely resemble birds of this family. 



Behavior. — On the wing this species bears a closer resemblance to a tern 

 than it does to the other gulls. It flies with continuous wing beats, seldom, so 

 far as I have observed, sailing, and its flight is direct though not straight. 

 It may swoop to the earth to pick up a bit of food or hover a moment if some- 

 thing attracts its attention, but only for an instant does it delay before re- 

 suming its onward flight in the direction it was going. It seems almost devoid 

 of curiosity. I liave never had one fly about me when walking over the tundra, 

 as the short-billed gulls and Arctic terns frequently do. and unless I am directly 

 iii its path I have never seen one ttirn aside in its flight to look at me. If one 

 of their own species or another bird is shot they pay no attention to the fallen 

 comrade, even if it be only wounded. They attend strictly to their own business. 

 They usually fly singly or with one or more short-billed gulls, but sometimes 

 two are seen together, rarely three. Except on their breeding grounds they are 

 not social and are generally silent. At St. Michael I have seen as many as six 

 birds together on the bay, but on land they are usually solitary. When a 

 number do come together on the water it appears to be tlie presence of food 

 that attracts them rather than a desire for the society of their own or other 

 species. AVhen a half dozen birds are resting on the water it is usual to see 

 them scattered about, each 30 or 100 yards from his nearest neighbor and not 

 close together, as other gulls generally are. 



Doctor Nelson (1887) says of the notes of this species: 



Sabine's gull has a single harsh, grating, but not loud note, very similar to 

 the grating cry of the Arctic tern, but somewhat harsher and shorter. When 

 wounded and pursued or captured it utters the same note in a much higher 

 and louder key, with such a grating file-like intensity that one feels like stop- 

 ping his ears. It has the same peculiar clicking interruptions which are so 

 characteristic of the cry of a small bat held in the hand. A low, chattering 

 modification of this is heard at times as the birds gather about the border of a 

 favorite pool, or float gracefully in company over the surface of some grassy 

 bordered pond. The same note, in a higher key, serves as a note of alarm 

 and curiosity as they circle overhead or fly off when disturbed. When one of 

 these gulls is brought down the others of its kind liover over it, but show less 

 devotion than is usually exhibited by the terns. 



FaZZ.— Nelson (1887) says further: 



As August draws to a close, young and old forsake the marshes to a great 

 extent, and the rest of the season are found scattered along the coast fee<ling 

 at the water line on the beeches. Toward the end of September they become 

 juore and more scarce until only a comparatively small number are found at the 

 beginning of October; but the last ones remain until the 8th or 10th of this 

 month, and these birds are usually the young of the year. 



Winter. — On the southward migration the Sabine's gull has 

 occurred on both coasts of North America, probably migrants from 

 different breeding stations, and at many points in the interior. Prof. 

 W. W. Cooke (1915) says that "the only place where Sabine's gull 

 has been found in winter is on the coast of Peru. Here it is common 

 in Callao Bay from December to April." He also suggests that 



