August 1891.] 



AND OOLOGIST. 



11!> 



Herring or the Black-bucked Gull, while the 

 adult forms are known as the "White" or 

 "Sea (tuU" and " Minister," respectively. The 

 Glaucou.s Gull, which is sometimes found as an 

 associate of the two above mentioned, is also 

 termed "Minister," though usually qualified 

 by the adjective, "White," while I have heard 

 the Black-backed Gull .spoken of as "Black 

 Minister" and "Coffin-bird," on one or two 

 occasions. Another common name for (ilaucous 

 is "Owl Gull." 



These larger Gulls are somewhat (luarrel- 

 some, a trait not common with the Kittiwakes. 

 A half-dozen birds will fight over a dead fish for 

 half an hour. They are also more awkward in 

 their movements than the Winter (Julls, and 

 are most ungraceful when alighting upon the 

 surface of the water, letting their feet dangle 

 in a most absurd manner, befcne settling down. 

 They commonly carry their feet extending 

 backward and slightly drooping, i.e., bent at 

 the tarsal joint, while on the wing, but the 

 Metericks either cover theirs entirely with the 

 under tail coverts, or else fold them back 

 closely against the downy feather's. They al.so 

 dive like Terns, which is .something which the 

 large Gulls never do. It is remarkable to see 

 how large a fish a Herring Gull will swallow, 

 {the Kittiwake is not a gourmand), and the con- 

 tortions of the bird while performing this feat 

 are both agonizing and ridiculous. I have seen 

 a bird of this species carry off successfully a 

 cod fully fifteen inches in length, but cannot 

 say positively that it was subsequently de- 

 voured. 



The other birds which are most conspicuous 

 are the Razor-billed Auk, the Pigeon an<l Com- 

 mon Guillemot, and Least Auk or Sea Dove, 

 all known by the general title of ice birds, 

 though the I.,east Auk is also called " Dovc- 

 kie," and the Common Guillemot is known as 

 the "Murre," which is the same, I think, as 

 the " Mura" of some writers. 



A much rarer bird is the Puffin, ( called Par- 

 akeet" ai'd "Sea-parrot,") which is quite 

 unsuspicious, and easily taken when seen, as 

 is the Sea-dove. One of the latter was killed 

 with a stone by one of the men at the Fish 

 Commission building, and many have been 

 reported to have been knocked down with 

 oars. They are all splendid divers and swim 

 a great distance under water. When on the 

 wing they Hy well, with short, quick strokes, 

 just cleai'ing the tops of the waves. 



Nesting and Other Habits of the 



Pine Warbler in Eastern North 



Carolina. 



Harry Gordon Wliite. 



(_il(mcc..iter, Mass. 



The Pine Warbler {Dendroira vigorMi) is a 

 common resident at all seasons in this locality, 

 ami generally commences nest-building early 

 in March, but in a great measure seems to be 

 influenced entirely by the weather. They 

 frequent mixed woods, and I occasionally find 

 them in isolated pine groves. In the spring 

 and summer they usually inhabit the higher 

 pines, but in autumn and winter may bo 

 found almost anywhere. 



This species is mostly insectivorous, but in 

 winter consumes a large amount of vegetable 

 food, especially pine mast and sumac berries. 

 I have seen them hunting about on the ground 

 in the dead of winter, presumably after grass 

 .seed. 



The female does all of the building, while 

 the male accompanies her back and forth on 

 his trips, diligently singing to her to cheer 

 her in the task. When the nest is building it 

 is the best time to find it, as the bii-d can 

 nearly always be detected in her business-like 

 flight, going directly into the tree next to the 

 one containing the nest or the one just beyond. 

 She gathers the material from all s<u-ts of 

 places, in trees and on the ground. I have 

 frequently seen feathers in the material that 

 composed the nest. 



All the nests that I have seen w-ere found by 

 my cousin, T. A. Smith wick, and all but two 

 were taken by him or under his supervision, 

 and all were found this year, IS'.tl. 



Nest No. 1. This, the first, nest was placed 

 on a horizontal limb of a pine, about thirty 

 feet up and twelve feet from the trunk. Al- 

 though not very high it was with some diffi- 

 culty reached; and this was accomplished by 

 j going up a beech near by and lifting it off with 

 a reed that had a wire fork fixed in the end of 

 it. The nest was empty, and was set back in 

 its former position so that the bird might use 

 it again if she w.anted to, but alas, she 

 never wanted to, and thus we weie foiled 

 in our first attempt to obtain the eggs 

 of this species ; but better luck awaited us. 



Nest No. 2 was found by my cousin who 

 showed it to me when the bird was building. 

 It was in a pine about seventy feet up and 

 about six feet from the body. Near the first 

 of April he procured the services of a good- 

 sized colored boy to do the climbing, who 

 reluctantly went to the nest and brought it to 



