LARID.E — THE GULLS AND TERNS — XEMA. 271 



The Fork-tailed Gull is an almost exclusively Arctic species. It is found in the 

 breeding-season in the extreme northern portions of America and Asia, but is of 

 only occasional occurrence in Europe. So far as is now known, it breeds exclusively 

 in North America aud in portions of Asia. In the winter it wanders south of the 

 Arctic Circle ; but at all times the larger portion of the birds of this species remain 

 in high northern latitudes, only a very small number wandering as far south as the 

 United States. 



This Gull is of occasional occurrence in New England, and is probably found there 

 more frequently than the present scanty records would seem to indicate. One was 

 shot in September, 1874, in Boston Harbor, and is now in the collection of Mr. Wil- 

 liam Brewster ; and early in June, 1878, Mr. Boardman procured a fine example on 

 the St. Croix. This gentleman had become aware that this species was present in 

 that region every spring, but had never before been able to secure an example. He 

 had often noticed it among the numerous Bonaparte Gulls, of which a "cartload" 

 had to be sacrificed before the desired Sabini could be secured. 



Mr. Howard Saunders, referring to its autumnal movements southward, mentions 

 the procuring of many examples of this species on the British coast, and on that of 

 the continent of Europe, as far south as Holstein and France ; these were mostly 

 immature birds. One adult was taken on the coast of Brittany, Aug. 25, 1871'. In 

 America he cites the range of this Gull as extending to New York on the east, and 

 Great Salt Lake in the interior. In the Museum of the University of .Michigan there 

 is said to be an example procured near Tumbez, one of the Macabi Islands, on the 

 coast of Peru, in latitude 8° south. 



This species was first described by Sabine from specimens obtained by his brother, 

 Colonel Edward, a member of the Northwest Expedition of 1818. The account of 

 its capture is to the effect that this bird was seen and killed on the 25th of July, 1818, 

 on a group of three rocky islands, each about a mile in diameter, on the west coast 

 of Greenland, twenty miles from the mainland, in lat. 75° 29' N. It was in company 

 with Arctic Terns, both species breeding on those islands, and their nests being inter- 

 mingled. This Gull was said to lay two eggs on the bare ground, which were hatched 

 the last week in July. The young at first are mottled with brown, and of a dull 

 yellow. The eggs are described as being an inch and a half in length, of regular 

 shape, and not much pointed ; the color is olive, blotched with brown. The parent 

 birds flew with great impetuosity toward persons approaching their nest and young; 

 and when one bird of a pair was killed, its mate, although frequently shot at, con- 

 tinued on the wing close to the spot where its dead mate lay. These birds appeared 

 to get their food on the sea-beach, standing near the water's edge and picking up 

 marine insects cast on the shore. 



During the second Arctic voyage, a Gull of this species was seen in Prince Regent's 

 Inlet; and afterward many specimens were obtained on Melville Peninsula. This 

 bird has also been met with at Spitzbergen, Igloolik, Behring's Straits, Cape Garry, 

 and Felix Harbor. The Eskimos informed Sir James C. Ross that it breeds in great 

 numbers west of Neitgelli. It is said to arrive in high northern latitudes in June, 

 and to move southward in August. When recently killed, its under plumage is of a 

 delicate pink blush-color. 



In the course of a voyage from Pictou, in Nova Scotia, to Hull, in England, Mr. 

 Thomas Macullock saw great numbers of this species when more than a hundred 

 miles off Newfoundland. They flew around the ship in company with an almost 

 equal number of Ross's Gull. 



This bird is mentioned by Bernhardt as being very rare in the Danish settle- 



