248 BIRDS IN THEIR RELATIONS TO MAN. 



an oily consistency. This gull breeds from New England and 

 the great lakes northward. Their eggs, like those of the guille- 

 mot, are taken in great quantities, and young birds are salted 

 and laid in store by dwellers in the far North, although in a 

 land where food is plentiful gull flesh is not relished. The 

 Kittiwake Gull, so far as food habits go, may be classed with 

 those already mentioned. It is a winter visitor, known as far 

 south as the Middle States, chiefly along the coast. Other 

 species range more or less over marshes and high grounds and 

 take a larger proportion of insects. One of these is the Ring- 

 billed Gull, a common species the land over. Those found 

 in the interior consume many insects. One stomach opened 

 by Professor Aughey contained forty locusts ; four others had 

 from ten to thirty-three insects each. All had partaken of 

 fish, crawfish, or mollusks. 



Bonaparte's Rosy Gull is another common gull interiorly 

 and coastwise, being especially abundant along the Atlantic 

 coast during migration. It is often seen coursing over stubble 

 and ploughed land. Two stomachs opened by Nuttall were 

 gorged with ants, ants' cocoons, and moth pupae. Franklin's 

 Rosy Gull moves quite across the United States in its migra- 

 tions, its main route lying west of the Mississippi River. Of 

 ten stomachs examined by Aughey, six had from thirteen to 

 fifty-three locusts each, besides a few other insects and remains 

 of fish and frogs ; the rest had from twelve to thirty-nine other 

 insects, together with mollusks, snails, fish, crawfish, and 

 lizards. 



THE TERNS AND JAEGERS. 



The Terns resemble the gulls in form and habits, though 

 they are readily distinguished by their smaller size, their 

 buoyant airy flight, and sharply pointed bills. Among those 

 that are most often found away from salt water, and con- 

 sequently the only ones whose food relations especially 

 interest us in this connection, are the least tern, Forster's 

 tern, the gull-billed or marsh tern, and the black tern. The 



