TERNS 27 



GULL-BILLED TERN: Gelochelidon nUotiea cur<mea 



(Wilson). 



State records. — A small colony of gull-billed terns nests on 

 Petit Bois Island just a little to the westward of the Alabama- 

 Mississippi line. According to Capt. W, M. Sprinkle, Audu- 

 bon Society Warden, this is the only place on the Gulf coast 

 east of Texas where it breeds, and not over 15 or 20 pairs are 

 found there. When I visited the island, July 4, 1913, several 

 pairs of birds greeted us with loud cries as soon as we landed 

 and flew about high d,bove our heads as long as we remained 

 in the vicinity. No nests were discovered, but several speci- 

 mens were taken at this time; one also by Holt on July 29, and 

 two by Gutsell on July 26 and August 30, 1911. 



General habits. — The gull-billed tern is much less common 

 than formerly and at present is found in only a few localities 

 along the South Atlantic and Gulf coasts. Ridgway found it 

 abundant ~at Cobbs Island, Virginia, in 1879, "nesting on the 

 dry sand, just beyond the surf, and on the higher i>arts of 

 the island."J Its. note he describes as a harsh, chattering 

 laugh. Chapman describes the notes as "a high, reedy 

 tee-tee-tee, sometimes suggesting those of a weak-voiced 

 katydid."* Audubon states that these terns swim buoyantly 

 but not swiftly, and when wounded do not attempt to dive. 

 In several instances he observed them catching insects on the 

 wing.f 



Food habits. — Audubon examined a number of stomachs of 

 this tern taken in Texas, Louisiana, and New Jersey and 

 found in them "insects of various kinds, including Coleop- 

 tera;"t Wilson examined several taken in New Jersey and 

 found them crammed with a mass of large, black spiders, 

 which he considers to be the principal food of the bird in 

 summer.** Five stomachs from Alabama, taken in July and 

 August, contained remains of the marine crustacean common- 

 ly known as "sand-bug" and of several large dragonflies. 



:tBaird, Brewer, and Kidgway, Water birds of North America, vol. 2, p. 278, 1884. 

 •Chapman, F. M., Handbook of birds of Eastern North America, p. 165, 1912. 

 tAudubon, J. J., Ornith. Biog., vol. 6, p. 129, 1839. 

 '•Wilson, Alex., and C. L. Bonaparte, Amer. Ornith., vol. 8, pp. 161-162, 1831. 



