NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 247 



21st of August. They were all birds of the year, being every where mottled 

 with dull greyish ; the primaries and a broad terminal band on the tail black, 

 as is also the terminal third of the bill, the rest being light flesh color. They 

 were shot while busily engaged in fishing for lance, which seemed to form their 

 favorite food. On skinning ihem, I found the gullet and stomach filled with 

 the fish. They were not at all shy ; they permitted a near approach without 

 desisting from their occupation, and the three were shot in rapid succession 

 before the rest became alarmed and flew off. Indeed, I have often thought 

 that the wariness of Gulls is in exact proportion to their size. Thus the little 

 Hooded Gulls, and the Kittiwakes, are so familiar as to hover and sport near 

 the stern of a vessel ; the Ring-bills come next, and though not so unsuspicious 

 as the last, are by no means sby ; the Herring Gulls, the next in size, are much 

 more watchful and difficult to procure, while the Black-backed and Glaucous 

 Gulls evince such excessive wariness and caution that it is only by stratagem 

 they can be procured. Though the theory may not hold good in all cases, I 

 certainly saw no exceptions to it during my slay in Labrador. 



Chroicocbphalus Philadelphia (Ord.) Lawr. — Bonaparte's Gull. 



Larus Bonapartei, Aud., Birds Amer. vii. I'M ; pi. 442. 

 Chroicocephalus Philadelphia, Lawrence, Gen. Rep. 852. 



Many of these beautiful little Gulls were seen at different times during the 

 voyage, though they were perhaps more abundant than elsewhere in the south- 

 ern portions of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. It is not a little singular that the 

 breeding places of a Gull so common, well known, and widely diffused as the 

 present, should be still unascertained with certainty, and the egg almost un- 

 known to science ; yet such is the case. Though my opportunities of observing 

 this species were limited, I could not but be struck with the remarkable fami- 

 liarity and want of suspicion exhibited by it on all occasions. Numbers would 

 often hover and sport around the stern of the vessel, so close that I could plainly 

 see the dark spot behind the eye which characterizes the immature bird of 

 this species. Their flight on such occasions, and indeed at all times, is ex- 

 tremely buoyant and graceful, in these respects resembling that of a Tern 

 rather than of a Gull. I noticed that, while flying, individuals would scratch 

 the head and neck with their claws, which operation, however, did not seem to 

 impede their flight in the least. At that season (September) none were seen 

 with the head enveloped in the hood which aaorns both sexes during the 

 breeding season. Those which I took to be birds of the year, had all a broad 

 subterminal band of black on the tail, and in many the black of the primaries 

 extended unbroken over the shoulder quite to the body. 



KissA TRYDACTiLA (L.) Bou. — Kittiwakc Gull. 



Larus tridaetylas, Aud., Birds Amer. vii. 146; pi. 444. 

 Rissa tridactyla, Lawrence, Gen. Rep. 854. 



I met with this interesting Gull on but one occasion, which was on the 3d of 

 August, while sailing up Esquimaux Bay several miles from its mouth. A small 

 company hovered and circled over the boat, and a specimen was secured. Being 

 only wing-tipped, it fluttered to some distance on the water, constantly utter- 

 ing its piercing screams, which caused its comrades to hover over it for some 

 time, showing their sympathy by loud cries. 



Sterna Wilsoni Bon. — Wilson's Tern. " Mackerel Gull." 

 Sterna Wilsoni, Aud., Birds Amer. vii. 97; pi. 433. Lawrence, Gen. Rep. 861. 



During my short stay at Rigolet, I saw a good many of these Terns, but found 

 none in any other locality. They possess iu the extreme the buoyancy, grace- 

 fulness and ease of flight for which the whole family is so celebrated, perform- 

 ing the most beautiful evolutions without the least apparent effort. To obtain 



1861.] 



