244 



THE OOLOGIST. 



from the ground. This bird is not a 

 very common Vjreeder here, according 

 to my five years experience. It gener- 

 ally arrives here in the first week in 

 May, and departs early in September. 

 It has a very pleasing lively song some 

 thing like a whistle. Tiie Chestnut- 

 sided Warbler can generallj' l)e found 

 in open dry woods M-ith open spots in 

 which bushes and small trees ca^i be 

 found. The Cow-bird frequently uses 

 the birds nests as a situation for its eggs. 

 It is socially inclined, and is often seen 

 in company with other Warblers. 

 B. H. Swales, 

 Detroit, Mich. 



The Gulls. 



Among the typical and familiar birds, 

 we must not fail to remember the Gulls. 

 Whether we consider their general dis- 

 tribution, their numbers, their varie- 

 ty, their great beauty or their useful- 

 ness, as scavengers, from every 

 point of view, they are important 

 and interesting to the ornithologist. 

 Seen ou the water, so light and 

 buoyant from their excess of downy 

 feathers, that they tUmt almost like 

 a bunch of cotton, and with a foot 

 most admirably adapted to swimming, 

 we pi'onounce these ideals among swim- 

 ming birds. Seen in the air, moving 

 their wings with the steady ease and 

 gracefulness of a Hawk or a raven, and 

 sailing majestically' as a Buzzard or an 

 Eagle, we are ready to accord them the 

 higliest perfection in flight. The large 

 strong bill, much compressed, with well 

 rounded culmen bracing it above and 

 gonys strengthening it beneath, would 

 seem to be of general rather than spec- 

 ial adaptation. In accordance with 

 this fact, we tind that its bill of fare is 

 somewhat varied, almost anything to 

 be found in and about the sea and bod- 

 ies of water in general. 

 The King-billed (jiu\l,Larus delawareii' 

 sis, is a species not so well known in 



all respects is some others, and we will 

 therefore give a brief account of it. 

 The Common or Herring Gull, is so well, 

 known, that it will serve as a good 

 starting point, to say that delawarensis, 

 is almost like it, except that it is notici- 

 bly smaller,that is to a critical observer,, 

 for one untrained in observation might 

 scarcely note the difference, whereas,, 

 the Common Gulls, Icarus argentatiis, is. 

 two feet or more in length and some; 

 four feet and a half in stretch of wings. 

 The Ring-bill is some eighteen or twen- 

 ty inches in length and about four feet, 

 in extent. The latter has also very 

 nearly the same distribution in Eastern 

 North America as the former. When, 

 we have the l)ird in hand, we notice a- 

 strongly marked ditference between the 

 two species in respect to the feet. The. 

 bill of the argentatus is plain yellow- 

 with a red mark on the gonys that of 

 the delawarensis is greenish yellow at: 

 the base, followed by a broad band of 

 black encinding it at the gonys, while 

 the tip is bright chrome. The feet of 

 the former are a pale pink of flesh color- 

 those of the latter a dusky green. In 

 habits in general, I think the two spe- 

 cies are quite similar, except that dele-^ 

 warensis is more gregarious at itS; 

 breeding places. 



In Georgian Bay, some forty-foui- 

 miles northeast of CoUingwood, a little; 

 north of the route from thence to Parry- 

 Sound, are two groups of small islands 

 called^the Western Islands. Only one. 

 of them contains anything worthy to be- 

 called forest. Some of them are scarcely 

 more than rocky shoals. None of them 

 contain more than a few acres of land^ 

 Here breed the Common Gulls in con- 

 siderable numbers, Wilson'sTern, some 

 of the Ducks, and one of the islands the 

 Ring-billed Gull in such abundance that, 

 in June 18B1, when I visited the locality 

 they could have been gathered by thft 

 barrel. The nests were placed ou the; 

 ground or ledges of rock and on grassy 

 plots, and were constructed of mosse.^ 



