658 LAEUS PHILADELPHIA, BONAPAETE's GULL. 



an angered ocean ceaselessly beat, to the low, sandy shores of the Giilf, 

 caressed by the soothing billows of a tropical sea. It follows the sinu- 

 osities of the two coasts with wonderful pertinacity, making excursions 

 np every bay and estuary, and threads the course of all our three great 

 rivers, while performing its remarkably extensive migrations. Consid- 

 ering in what high latitudes it breeds, it Is astonishing how early toward 

 the fall it again appears among us after its brief absence. The last 

 birds have not all left the United States in May ; some time in August 

 the young come straggling back, though they are not numerous until 

 the autumn has fairly set in. Perhaps some breed in the United States ; 

 of this, however, I have no personal knowledge, and at any rate, they 

 only do so along our northern tier of States. Very little is recorded of 

 Its nidification and special breeding habits, and this is not so definite as 

 could be wished. Audubon says, at second hand, that it breeds on the 

 islands off Grand Menan ; I only know of its nesting in British America, 

 and this too merely from the labels of specimens examined. But I saw 

 a great many in Labrador, and about the mouth of the St. Lawrence, at 

 such time that, rendered it pretty certain they had not bred far off. 



While in North Carolina I made some observation on the vernal mi- 

 gration, that I thought interesting. There these Gulls are simply birds 

 of passage, none wintering or breeding. They appear early in April, or 

 with the first genial weather, and may be seen through part or most of 

 jMay ; then they go off, to return in September, and stay a month or so. 

 But in spring it was a succession of birds passing, rather than the same 

 individuals remaining so long. Thus from the first of April to the 

 twenty-second, in 1869, great numbers were over the bay, with a decided 

 preponderance of full-plumaged individuals. Then, without any marked 

 change in the weather or other apparent reason, none were to be seen 

 for a week or ten days. The first week in May, however, they became 

 more numerous than ever, and, what seemed singular, this last lot was 

 almost entirely composed of young birds — that is, birds only a year old, 

 as was shown by the plumage, lacking the hood, having the black bar 

 •on the tail, and the up[)er parts imperfectly blue, variegated with gray 

 and brown. Evidently the old birds, hurrying north to breed, led the 

 van ; and the young, with no such important business on hand, came 

 trooping leisurely in the rear. The question was, what would these 

 young birds do the ensuing summer? Would they reach the boreal 

 regions to which the great majority of the perfect fertile birds repair, 

 after loitering so late on the Carolina coast ? or did they only propose 

 to go part way, spend the summer frolicking, and return with sobeivr 

 intentions for another year ? I doubt that any breed until they are full 

 plumaged. 



Note. — The ChrwcoceplKilus minutus, by some included among Nortli American birds, 

 has no grounded claim to be so considered. I therefore omit the species, which I can- 

 not recognize as an inhabitant of this country until some conclusive evidence is 

 brought forward. The whole claim may be seen to rest upon an identification of 

 Sabine's, who, in all probability, mistook philadelpMa for minutus. 



Qenus EHODOSTETHIA, Macgil. 



Lams, Macgil., 1824 : Ercn., l>^-2.5 {nee Linn.). 

 Eossitt, Bp., Comp. List, 183d, 62 {nee OwEX). 



Bhodostethia, Macgil., Man. Orn. ii, 1842, 253 (type Larua roseus, Macgil.). — Lawr., B. N. 

 A. Id.^f , &5j.— Coles. Pr. A. X. S. Phila. 1862, 311.— Gray, List Br. B. 1863, 229. 



Gen. char. " Body moderate ; neck rather short ; head ovate ; bill short, rather 

 slender r upper mandible with the dorsal line straight for half its length, arcuate-de- 

 curvate toward the end ; lower mandible with the iutercrural space narrow, the knot 

 slight, the dorsal line concave, the tip narrow; legs short; tibise bare for a very short 



