306 GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL. 



the Skua fly up, which, smaller as it is, yet evinces a thoughtless intre- 

 pidity, that strikes the ravenous and merciless bird with terror. 



If we compare this species with some other of its tribe, and mark its 

 great size, its powerful flight, and its robust constitution, we cannot but 

 wonder to find its range so limited during the breeding season. Few in- 

 dividuals are to be found northward of the entrance into Baffin's Bay, 

 and rarely are they met with beyond this, as no mention is made of them 

 by Dr B-ichardson in the Fauna Boreali- Americana. Along our coast, 

 none breed farther south than the eastern extremity of Maine. The 

 western shores of Labrador, along an extent of about three hundred miles, 

 afford the stations to which this species resorts during spring and summer ; 

 there it is abundant, and there it was that I studied its habits. 



The farthest limits of the winter migrations of the young, so far as I 

 have observed, are the middle portions of the eastern coast of the Floridas. 

 While at St Augustine, in the winter of 1831, I saw several pairs keep- 

 ing company with the young Brown Pelican, more as a matter of interest 

 than of friendship, as they frequently chased them as if to force them to 

 disgorge a portion of their earnings, acting much in the same manner as 

 the Lestris does toward the smaller Gulls, but without any eff'ect. They 

 were extremely shy, alighted only on the outer edges of the outer sand- 

 bars, and could not be approached, as they regularly walked off" before my 

 party the moment any of us moved towards them, until reaching the last 

 projecting point, they flew off^, and never stopped until out of sight. At 

 what period they left that coast I am unable to say. Some are seen scat- 

 tered along our sea- shores, from the Floridas to the Middle States, there 

 being but few old birds among them ; but the species does not become 

 abundant until beyond the eastern extremities of the Connecticut and 

 Long Island, when their number greatly increases the farther you pro- 

 ceed. On the whole of that extensive range, these birds are very shy and 

 wary, and those which are procured are merely " chance shots." They 

 seldom advance far up the bays, unless forced to do so by severe weather 

 or heavy gales ; and although I have seen this bird on our great lakes, I 

 do not remember having ever observed an individual on any of our eastern 

 rivers, at a distance from the sea, whereas the Larus argentatus is fre- 

 quently found in such places. 



Towards the commencement of summer, these wandering birds are 

 seen abandoning the waters of the ocean to tarry for a while on the wild 

 shores of Labrador, dreary and desolate to man, but to them delightful 



