152 GULLS 



38. Stercorarius longicaudus VieilL LONG-TAILED JAEGER. Ads. 

 light phase. Back, wings and tail slaty fuscous; top of head and lores 

 nearly black; sides of head, back and sides of neck straw-yellow; throat 

 sometimes washed with same color; underparts white; sides, lower belly, 

 and crissum slaty fuscous; central tail-feathers extending about 7'00 beyond 

 the others, the projecting ends narrow and pointed. (No dark phase of 

 this species has been described.) Im. Similar in plumage to im. of S. 

 parasiticus, but differing otherwise as pointed out under that species. L. t 

 21-00; W., 12-50; T., Ad., 12'00., Im., 5'50; B., 1'08. 



Range. N. part of the N. Hemisphere. Breeds on Arctic islands of 

 Europe and Asia, and coasts of Kotzebue and Norton sounds, n. Mackenzie, 

 and n. Hudson Bay to n. Greenland; winters s. to Gibraltar and Japan; 

 not rare in migration off New England; casual on the Pacific coast s. to 

 Calif .; accidental in Man., Iowa, 111., and Fla. 



Long Island, casual, Oct. 



Nest, a slight depression in the ground, sometimes scantily lined with 

 grasses. Eggs, 2-3, similar in color to those of the preceding, 2' 10 x 1'50. 

 Date, Southern Greenland, June 1. 



5. FAMILY LARID^E. GULLS AND TERNS. (Figs. 236, 24.) 



This family contains about 100 species, divided equally between 

 subfamily Larince (Gulls) and subfamily Sternirux (Terns). They are 

 distributed throughout the world. Some forty species inhabit North 

 America. With few exceptions, they agree in possessing the marked 

 characters of their respective subfamilies, under which they may be 

 more conveniently treated. 



Subfamily Larince. Gulls. (Fig. 236.) 



The fifty odd members of this subfamily are distributed throughout 

 the world; twenty-five of them have been recorded from North America, 

 where the greater number nest north of the United States; in Eastern 

 North America, the Laughing Gull being the only species which nests 

 south of latitude 41. 



Franklin's Gull is a bird of the Mississippi Valley, and many of 

 the maritime species nest on the islands of inland lakes, where, indeed, 

 they may be represented throughout the year; but, as a family, Gulls 

 are true birds of the sea and its bays. They throng our harbors from 

 early fall to late spring, and during this season are ever in attendance 

 on coast-wise craft, and are not wanting in mid-ocean. 



Gulls average larger and stockier than Terns, and have less pointed, 

 broader wings, and, as a rule, square tails. They procure their food 

 largely by picking it from the surface of the water with their strong, 

 hooked bills, not by plunging or darting, as do the Terns. They are 

 among nature's scavengers of the water, and perform a service of great 

 value to man by devouring various forms of aquatic animals which, 

 in dying, come to the surface. .They also aid in freeing the waters of 

 our harbors from the garbage which inevitably finds its way there. 

 Although feeding thus on offal, most Gulls are highly predaceous and 



