38 Bird Portraits 
attain the white only after a year or two. The small, elegantly built 
birds, known along the seacoast as Mackerel Gulls, are not strictly 
gulls, but terns, They may be known by their forked tails and by 
their black caps. It is they that hover screaming over the water, 
constantly darting down to strike at fish. 
Gulls breed commonly along the coast of Maine and far north- 
ward. Great colonies occupy a small area, and a visit to their 
breeding places is a marvelous experience. At the approach of an 
intruder, the parents rise from their nests and circle about overhead, 
uttering hoarse cries, till the air is full of their wheeling forms. The 
downy young squat in the grass or bushes till the danger is past. 
Both gulls and terns have long been persecuted for their soft 
white and gray plumage, which is coveted for the adornment of 
women’s hats. As the destruction of the birds on the islands where 
they are breeding would soon destroy the whole race, efforts are 
being made by the lovers of birds to protect the birds on all the 
sandy points or rocky islands where they rear their young. 
Gulls have wonderful powers of flight, and some species often 
follow ocean steamers for days, flying constantly about the vessel's 
stern, watching for bits of food which may be thrown overboard. 
When an object is spied the whole flock dart upon it, and it soon 
disappears among the crowd of struggling birds. 
In the Eastern States gulls are always associated with the sea, 
but in the Mississippi valley certain species are found on the prairies, 
where they follow the plough to seize the upturned insects. 
