Gulls and Terns. 



Order, Longipennes. 

 Family, Laridae. 



Family characteristics: In the West, the gulls are usually seen 

 in very large flocks during migration either gathering worms in time 

 of plowing or bugs during harvesting. Their prevailing bluish-gray 

 color, wide wing-spread and easy flight make them easy to identify. 

 Terns are the only birds mistaken for them but the little black tern 

 that skims over our ponds is easily recognized. Terns can be dis- 

 tinguished from gulls by the way they point their bills downward in 

 flight rather than straight ahead of them. Their bills are straight 

 whereas the bills of the gulls curve downward at the point and are 

 slightly enlarged near the tip. 



59. FRANKLIN GULL. Larus Franklinii. About fourteen 

 inches long. Wide wing-spread. Head black with white eye-ring. 

 Upper parts "gull-blue" or pearl gray. Breast white with beautiful 

 rose tint. Bill red. Tips of wing feathers black tipped with white. 



60. BONAPARTE GULL. Larus Philadelphia. About fourteen 

 inches long. Wide wing-spread. Head black. Upper parts "gull- 

 blue" or pearl gray. Under parts white. Tips of wing feathers black. 

 Bill black. Feet red. 



77. BLACK TERN. Hydrochelidon nigra surinamensis. Length 

 nine and one-half inches. Almost wholly black above. Tail slate 

 color. Lower body white beneath. Feet black. Bill black. May be 

 seen on almost any inland pond skimming the surface of the water 

 with bills turned downward. Nests on muskrat houses or bundles of 

 dead reeds. Often mistaken for a gull. 



69. FORSTER TERN. Sterna forsteri. Fourteen and one-half 

 inches long. Light pearl gray above. White below. Top of head 

 black. Bill red with black tip. Legs red. Tail split deeply. 



BONAPARTE GULL. 



Who has not seen the flocks of gulls that by thousands visit 

 the fields of the Mississippi valley? What a pretty sight it is to 

 see them sailing silently above us! The world must be a moving 



