CHAPTER XXXI 



THE ORDER OF LONG-WINGED SWIMMERS 



LONGIPENNES 



The members of the Order of Gulls and Terns appeal to a greater number of admirers than any 

 other group of web-footed birds. The reasons are, their wide distribution, both on salt water and 

 fresh water lakes; their conspicuous and graceful flight; their partial immunity from wholesale 

 slaughter, and their friendliness toward the arch-destroyer, man. Every harbor and every steamer 

 track is a safe feeding-ground for these birds, and along thousands of miles of shore line, they are 

 the most beautiful wild creatures that greet the eye. 



The three North American Families of this Order are as follows: 



ORDER 

 LONGIPENNES. 



FAMILIES. 



Gulls and Terns, . la'ri-dae 



Skimmers, . . . ryn-chop'1-dae, . 



Skuas and Jaegers, ster-co-rar-i'i-dae. 



EXAMPLES. 



Herring-Gull; Common Tern. 

 Black Skimmer. 

 Parasitic Jaeger. 



THE GULLS AND TERNS. 



Laridae. 



The Herring-Gull, 1 an old and familiar friend 

 which ranges far inland, and also far outward on 

 the sea, is the best and most interesting type 

 of this Family. It is an ideal Gull, — long- 

 winged, large, white and pearl-gray in color, 

 strong, yet graceful on the wing, a good fighter, 

 and sufficiently plentiful in number to be known 

 to millions of people. It inhabits the whole 

 sea-coast, and all the salt-water bays and inlets 

 of North America, the great lakes, the lakes 

 and ponds of Michigan, Minnesota, Iowa, and 

 several of our larger rivers, such as the Potomac, 

 Mississippi, Missouri and Columbia. From 

 all their regular routes of travel and places of 

 residence, they stray inland for an indefinite 

 number of miles. 



The Herring-Gull nests from southern Maine 

 and the great lakes northward to the Arctic 

 Ocean, and makes its winter home in the United 

 States. All trans-Atlantic voyagers have seen 

 it far out at sea, almost half way between Sandy 

 Hook and Queenstown. 



In Georgian Bay the sight of Gull life on the 



1 La'rus ar-gen-ta'lus. Average length, 24 inches. 



crystal-clear waters, and clean, bare islets of 

 pink granite near Owen Sound was one of the 

 most enchanting I ever beheld. Going down 

 Puget Sound on a cold and windy day in No- 

 vember, a large flock of the same old friends 

 followed the steamer for twenty miles, sailing 

 along beside us, sometimes within ten feet of 

 the rail of the hurricane-deck, — a sight which 

 well repaid one for half-freezing in order to see 

 it to the most perfect advantage. 



But why wander so far from home to see 

 Gulls? Half a mile from the Zoological Park 

 is the Williamsbridge Reservoir of the New 

 York City water-works. Not long since, cu- 

 riosity to see if any winter birds were being 

 attracted by that very small but high basin of 

 water, led me to climb up and see. To my 

 great astonishment, I found a distinguished 

 company of sixty-seven Herring-Gulls, standing 

 and sitting in serene contentment on the sheet 

 of ice that covered one-half the surface of the 

 water. It was a nice, quiet, genteel place, 

 well below the sweep of the wind; there was 

 plenty of water for the birds to soak their feet 

 in when the ice made them too cold, and what 

 more could a Gull ask, except a daily delivery 

 of fresh fish? 



290 



