WATER-BIRD WAIFS 



descend into the ponds, and there is a scurrying among 

 the gunners. I have found their nests out in the wilder 

 parts of the Northwest, and there studied them as there 

 is little chance to do here in civilization. 



People usually think of the graceful and beautiful 

 gulls and terns as being found only by the sea. In the 

 East this is mainly true, but in the Northwest many of 

 the marshy or alkaline lakes fairly teem with a number 

 of kinds. But with us in the inland country town all 

 we can hope for is to see a straggler now and then, if 

 we have any ponds or lakes of fair size. In the early 

 fall we may occasionally see a tern, probably the Com- 

 mon Tern, a white bird, about the size of a pigeon, 

 gray on the back, and black-capped, whose long narrow 

 wings move rapidly as it darts about, plunging headlong 

 into the water after the small bait fish upon which it 

 lives. Now and then the Black Tern, a smaller, 

 slaty-colored bird of similar form and habits, may 

 appear. Later in the season, about November, an 

 occasional gull may winnow about the lakes. Probably 

 it will be a Herring Gull, or perhaps the Ring-billed 

 Gull, a trifle smaller. These are both much larger 

 than terns, of heavier build and slower in motions. 

 Adults are mainly white, while the younger birds are 

 brown in their first autumn and gray in their second. 

 A good time for the dweller inland to watch the gulls 

 is when visiting some seaport city like New York, 

 from November to April. Go down to the wharves 

 or out in a ferry boat, and one will see more gulls in an 



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