244 



THE 00L0G1ST. 



from the ground. This bird is not a 

 very common breeder here, according 

 to my five years experience. It gener- 

 ally arrives here in the first week in 

 May, and departs early in September. 

 It has a very pleasing lively song some 

 thing like a whistle. The Chestnut- 

 sided Warbler can generally be found 

 in open dry woods with open spots in 

 which bushes and small trees can be 

 found, The Cow- bird frequently uses 

 the birds nests as a situation for its eggs. 

 It is socially inclined, and is often seen 

 in company with other Warblers. 

 B. H. Swales, 

 Detroit, Mich. 



The Gulls. 



Among the typical and familiar birds, 

 we must not fail to remember the Gulls. 

 Whether we consider their general dis- 

 tribution, their numbers, their varie- 

 ty, their great beauty or their useful- 

 ness, as scavengers, from every 

 point of view, they are important 

 and interesting to the ornithologist. 

 Seen on the water, so light and 

 buoyant from their excess of downy 

 feathers, that they float almost like 

 a bunch of cotton, and with a foot 

 most admirably adapted to swimming, 

 we pronounce these ideals among swim- 

 ming birds. Seen in the air, moving 

 their wings with the steady ease and 

 gracefulness of a Hawk or a raven, and 

 sailing majestically as a Buzzard or an 

 Eagle, we are ready to accord them the 

 highest perfection in flight. The large 

 strong bill, much compressed, with well 

 rounded culmeu bracing it above and 

 gonys strengthening it beneath, would 

 seem to h$ *£ general rather than spec- 

 ial adaptation. In accordance with 

 this fact, we find that its bill of fare is 

 somewhat varied, almost anything to 

 be found in and about the sea and bod- 

 ies of water in general. 

 The Ring-billed Gull, Larus deluwaren- 

 sos, is a species not so well known in 



all respects is some others, and we will 

 therefore give a brief account of it. 

 The Common or Herring Gull, is so well 

 known, that it will serve as a good 

 starting point, to say that delawarensis^ 

 is almost like it, except that it is notici- 

 bly smaller,that is to a critical observer,. 

 for one untrained in observation might, 

 scarcely note the difference, whereas, 

 the Common Gulls, Larus argentatns, is 

 two feet or more in length and some 

 four feet and a half in stretch of wings. 

 The Ring-bill is some eighteen or twen- 

 ty inches in length and about four feet 

 in extent. The latter has also very 

 nearly the same distribution in Eastern 

 North America as the former. When 

 we have the bird in hand, we notice a 

 strongly marked difference between the 

 two species in respect to the feet. The 

 bill of the argentatus is plain yellow 

 w'ith a red mark on the gonys that of 

 the delawarensis is greenish yellow at 

 the base, followed by a broad band of 

 black encircling it at the gonys, while 

 the tip is bright chrome. The feet of 

 the former are a pale pink of flesh color- 

 those of the latter a dusky green. In 

 habits in general, I think the two spe- 

 cies are quite similar, except that dele- 

 warensis is more gregarious at its, 

 breeding places. 



In Georgian Bay, some forty-four- 

 miles northeast of Collingwood, a little. 

 north of the route from thence to Parry 

 Sound, are two groups of small islands 

 called;the Western Islands. Only one 

 of them contains anything worthy to be 

 called forest. Some of them are scarcely 

 more than rocky shoals. None of them 

 contain more than a few acres of land. 

 Here breed the Common Gulls in con-- 

 siderabde numbers, Wilson's Tern, some 

 of the Ducks, and one of the islands the 

 Ring-billed Gull in such abundance that 

 in June 1881, when I visited the locality 

 they could have been gathered by the 

 barrel. The nests were placed on the 

 ground or ledges of rock and on grassy- 

 plots, and were constructed of mosses 



