BIRDS. 



441 



wedge-shaped in the gulls. Still this distinction does not always hold 

 good. Gulls are found in all parts of the world, especially in the neighbor- 

 hood of large bodies of water. 

 Some are moderate in size, 

 while others are among the 

 largest of aquatic birds. All 

 alone; our shores these beauti- 

 fill birds with their graceful 

 flight form an important ele- 

 ment in the landscape, some 

 circling round and round high 

 in the air, others walking along 

 the beach in search for food. 

 In their colors there is not 

 much variety. White predom- 

 inates, while across the back 

 and wings, like a cloak or 

 mantle, is a patch of darker 

 color, varying from a light 

 gray through all the inter- 

 vening shades until an almost 

 glossy black is reached. The 

 species are numerous ; but all 

 are much alike in habits, — 

 loud-voiced, quarrelsome crea- 

 tures, ready to rob any more industrious bird of its hard-earned dinner. 



Of all the gulls none is more interesting than that figured, — Ross's 

 gull, an inhabitant of the far north ; and this interest centres not in its 

 habits, but in its great rarity. Until 1879 there was not a single speci- 

 men of this form in any American collection, while in Europe there were 

 less than ten. In that year, however, several were obtained for the 

 National Museum ; and three years later a large number were shot at 

 Point Barrow. Of the specimens taken in 1879 a note is demanded. The 

 naturalist of the ' Jeannette ' expedition shot eight of these birds north of 

 Siberia. At last the 'Jeannette' was lost, and the crew had to take to 

 the boats. Everything that they took with them "had to be weighed 

 literally by the ounce"; but still Mr. R. L. Newcomb, the naturalist, 

 clung tightly to three of his skins, brought them safely to the Lena delta. 

 carried them across Siberia, and at last placed them in the Smithsonian 

 Institution. 



The terns, or sea-swallows, are much like the gulls in their ha 1 tits, and 



Fig. 372. — Horned puffin {Fratercula cornintlato), on the left; 

 tufted puffin (Lunda cirrhata), on the right. 



