COMMON AMERICAN GULL. 99 



the Ohio below Louisville, amidst the roaring sounds of which may be 

 heard their shrill and continued cries. 



You must not suppose, however, that all the Gulls which migrate in 

 that country take the same route ; for thousands follow the sinuosities of 

 our Atlantic coast, some of them perhaps proceeding as far south in that 

 direction as those which follow our rivers. My opinion is, that the feebler 

 individuals of the different species follow the inland route, while the older 

 and more hardy birds keep along the shores of the ocean. The examina- 

 tion of numerous specimens on both of these extensive tracks has almost 

 rendered this a matter of certainty, yet I should be much pleased to jSnd 

 this opinion corroborated by the observations of any other student of 

 nature. 



While on the coast of Florida, in the winter of 1832-33, I every day 

 saw Gulls of many species, but among them all were no adult birds, with 

 the exception of the Black-headed Gull of Wilson, which was very 

 abundant. This greatly tended to strengthen my opinion, that the young 

 gulls are of more dehcate constitution than their parents, which are better 

 enabled to stand the rigours of the winter in the Middle States, where 

 they are found equally abundant at that season. For similar reasons, I 

 also feel assured that the oldest birds are those which go farthest north to 

 breed, and that the older and stronger individuals are larger, with more 

 purely tinted plumage, and with the colours of their legs, feet and bills, 

 as well as of the circle around the eye, more vivid, than those which, al- 

 though found breeding, yet have not acquired their full maturity. In 

 consequence of these circumstances, some species have been described as 

 forming several, and the great difference between the plumage of the young 

 and the old birds has led to similar errors. 



Our Common Gull is seldom seen in the adult plumage of winter be- 

 yond the shores of Maryland southward, or in full summer plumage be- 

 yond the Bay of New York, and this rarely after the middle of April, 

 as at that period they gather into flocks, and remove farther north to 

 breed. The places to which this species resorts for that purpose, and 

 which I have visited, are several islands between Boston and Eastport, 

 another close to Grand Manan at the entrance of the Bay of Fundy, the 

 great Gannet Rock of the Gulf of St Lawrence, and certain rocky isles 

 in the deep bays on the coast of Labrador. 



This species, although one of those most abundant on our coast, is so 

 well acquainted with the artifices of man, that it keeps more than others 



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