THE GULLS AND TERNS 



(Family Laridae) 



BY A. A. ALLEN 



ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF ORNITHOLOGY, CORNELL UNIVERSITY 



TO THOSE who go down to the sea, there is no 

 bird more familiar than the sea gull. It matters 

 not that there are fifty different kinds of gulls in 

 the world with as many different names. All of the 

 long winged graceful white birds that follow the ships 

 the world over, or congregate in large flocks in the 

 harbors, are everywhere called sea gulls and always will 

 be. Absolute masters of the air they are, for no storm 

 is so severe that they cannot still be seen, now circling 



with scarcely a mark of any kind. Immature gulls are 

 uniformly darker than the adults, being dusky or grayish, 

 changing gradually during the first two or three years 

 to the plumage of the old birds. 



Gulls vary in size from that of a pigeon to that of an 

 eagle although they are always more slender than the 

 latter. As a group they are larger than the terns though 

 a few of the terns are larger than the smallest gulls. 

 The majority of terns are about the size of slender 



Photograph by Herbert K. Job 



AN AVIAN SNOW STORM 

 Royal and Cabot's terns nesting. Breton Island Reservation, Louisiana. 



high overhead, now gliding close to the waves, now sail- 

 ing apparently straight into the wind without a move- 

 ment of the wings. Sometimes they sail for hours by 

 the stern of the ship taking advantage of the air currents 

 and never moving their wings except to alter occasionally 

 the angle at which they are held. Again they are seen 

 tossing about on the waves for they have webbed feet 

 and can swim like ducks. 



The majority of gulls are pure white except for pearl 

 gray mantles and black tips to the wings, but some have 

 the mantle darker, others have the head black during the 

 summer, while still others have the entire plumage white 



pigeons but some are not much larger than the largest 

 swallows. Indeed they are sometimes called "sea swal- 

 lows" because of their long pointed wings, deeply forked 

 tails, and light, airy flight. 



Terns do not often sail like the gulls but few birds 

 excel them for gracefulness. With measured strokes of 

 the wings, almost suggestive of the motion of a butterfly, 

 and with their bills directed downward as they watch the 

 water, they beat back and forth along the coast hunting 

 for small fish. Once a flock of terns locates a school of 

 fish, a scene of intense animation follows. The buoyant, 

 rhythmic flight gives way to a series of daring plunges 



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