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LAllIU.E — THE GI:LLS AND TERNS— LA IIUS. 



227 



tlic waters of some inland lake, on some spot difRcult of access. The eggs, which are 

 excellent food, are a valuable accjuisition to the owners of the islands, and the birds 

 ;ue allowed to sit upon their third set only. One gentleman informed Mr. Hewitson 

 that in a single season he had secured for winter use sixty dozen of the eggs of this 

 liird on one island, although its extent scarcely exceeds half an acre. 



This species is observed on the coasts of Germany, Holland, and France, is occa- 

 sional in Italy, and was found by the Russian naturalists in the vicinity of the 

 (Jaspian Sea. 



On the American coast it appears to hv. present during the breeding-season from 

 tht^ Hay of Fundy to the coast of Greenland, and in the winter it wanders south as 

 far as the coast of New Jersey. A few in inuuature plumage, according to Audubon, 

 wander even to Florida. 



According to Professor Reinhardt, it is a resident species of Greenland. It is rare 

 in the summer in the Bay of Fundy. All that I met with there were in the imma- 

 ture plumage, and were apparently solitary and unmated birds. I saw none in the 

 mature plumage ; but was assured, however, that they do so occur, and that a few of 

 them breed there. This species becomes quite abundant in that locality in the Avin- 

 ter ; and it is known as the " Farmer Gull " — a name indiscriminately given to the 

 immature forms of two or three species, and hence having no specific significance. 



According to the observations of Giraud, it is not, as a general rule, abundant on 

 the coast of Long Island, although in certain exceptional seasons it has been seen 

 there in considerable numbers. 



This species is of rare occurrence at Bermuda, where a living specimen was taken 

 Dec. 24, 1851. It is a not uncommon visitor to the Great Lakes during the winter, 

 esi)ecially to Lake Michigan. 



Audubon states that the shores of Labrador for an extent of three hundred miles 

 alTdvd stations to which this species resorts during spring and summer, where it is 

 abundant, and breeds in large numbers. Its nest was xisually found placed on the 

 hare rock of some low island, sometimes beneath a projecting shelf, sometimes in a 

 wide fissure. It is formed of moss and seaweed carefully arranged, has a diameter 

 of about two feet, being raised on the edges to the height of five or six inches, and 

 is seldom more than two inches thick in the centre, where feathers, dry grass, and 

 other materials are added. The eggs — three in number — are described as 2.87 

 inches in length by 2.13 in breadth, broadly ovate, rough, but not granulated, of a 

 pid(! earthy greenish gray color, irregularly blotched and spotted with brownish black, 

 dark umber, and dull purple. The eggs are deposited from the middle of May to the 

 last of June. The old birds do not leave their nests for any considerable length of 

 tiiii(> until after the young are hatched. Both sexes incubate, and supply each other 

 witli food. During the first week the young are fed with materials macerated by the 

 parent bird ; but afterward the supply is laid ' their side. On being approached, 

 the young endeavor to hide themselves ; if as much as four or five Aveeks old, they 

 escape to the water, and swim with great buoyancy. Their cry resembles that of their 

 parents. Several ytmng birds were kept alive by Audubon ; these walked the deck 

 with ease, and picked np the food thrown to them, and soon became quite tame and 

 familiar, behaving themselves very much as vultures do. 



This bird appears to feed indiscriminately on fish and on other productions of the 

 sea. It is extremely ravenous, and when pressed by hunger it will attack the smaller 

 Oulls. It is also accused of making murderous attacks upon various small land 

 animals. When other food could not be obtained it has been known to frequent 

 the sea-shore and to feed upon dead fish and such substances as are thrown up 





