A Feathered Wanderer 



BY JOHN T. WILLITS 



It" there is a bird that is a cosmopolite it is the 

 gull. On every coast of nearly every ocean on 

 the globe, in polar seas or under equatorial 

 skies, this winged traveler is at home, seeking 

 its food in placid summer waters, shrieking in 

 the face of the storm, or circling to and fro when 

 the wild northwester sweeps the coast and the 

 bays are locked fast in winter ice. 



There are several genera of gulls, but the 

 genus Larus contains the best-known species. 

 The herring, or silvery gull {Larus argentatus), 

 of the Atlantic coast is by far the most numer- 

 ous. They have a yellow bill, gray back and 

 the head, neck, tail and under part of the body 

 are perfectly white. They are found not only 

 about salt water, but even on our fresh-water 

 rivers, fifty or sixty miles from the sea. Their 

 favorite habitat, however, is in the salt-water 

 bays, sounds and inlets, and at sea, not far from 

 the coast. They cover a wide range, being 

 found all the way from Newfoundland to the 

 Gulf. Every one will recognize this species, its 

 symmetrical shape and plumage of pearl gray 

 and white making it one of the most handsome 

 of our aquatic birds. 



An indefatigable fisherman is this bird; from 

 its station in the air its remarkable keenness of 

 vision and celerity of movement when its prey 

 is discerned enables it to make its capture 

 almost to a certainty. It is in the bluefish 

 season, however, that the gulls are enabled to 

 feast to repletion. These fish, at intervals dur- 

 ing the summer, enter the inlets in schools in 

 pursuit of the silver fish, which is their principal 

 food. When a person is fishing for "snapping 

 mackerel," which is done by trolling or sailing 

 with a line and unbaited hook astern, it is the 

 gulls that are his pilots, for they, too, are seeking 

 the little silver fish that are driven to the surface 

 of the water by their rapacious enemies. By 

 watching the movements of the gulls, therefore, 

 when the shoal has broken up and dispersed, he 

 can again locate the fish. The birds, which have 

 been darting swiftly about to every point of the 

 compass, suddenly concentrate their forces, and 

 with shrill screams again begin diving for the 

 unfortunate silver fish, which, with a relentless 

 foe both above and beneath, are indeed between 



Scylla and Charybdis. So tame are the gulls at 

 these times, or, rather, so intent upon their occu- 

 pation are they, that they scarcely notice the 

 presence of man, and often fly within an oar's 

 length of the boat. 



The great black -backed gull (Larus mari- 

 nus) is also a summer resident of our coast. It 

 is the largest of the species, being about the size 

 of a raven. Its back, head and upper parts of 

 the body are of a deep brown color, the under 

 parts are pale, ashy gray, the legs are black, and 

 the talons are very strong and hooked. These 

 gulls are not so numerous as the smaller kind, 

 and seem to be less gregarious in their habits, 

 seldom flying in large flocks. 



Soon after the first ice appears the winter 

 gull takes up his abode along our coasts. This 

 bird is said to be an inhabitant of the Arctic 

 seas, and is known to ornithologists as the glau- 

 cous, or burgomaster gull. Whether or not 

 they are denizens of the far North, many of the 

 species hibernate on the New Jersey coast, and 

 even farther south. The winter gulls are 

 nearly as large as their congeners, the great 

 black -backed gulls, and their plumage is a pure 

 white. As they fly back and forth, with dis- 

 cordant cries, over the drifting ice in the chan- 

 nels, dive into the freezing water for their food, 

 or sometimes drift with the current on cakes of 

 ice, these birds present an appropriate setting to 

 the wintry landscape. 



Among the different species of the Laridse 

 is the codfish gull. These birds frequent the 

 waters of the Atlantic coast during the codfish 

 season, which off the coast of New Jersey lasts 

 from November to April. While similar in 

 color of plumage and also in size to the herring 

 gull, they differ in general shape and habits 

 enough to place them in a class by themselves. 

 It has never been satisfactorily explained what 

 the attraction is for these birds on the codfish 

 grounds, for those fish, unlike the bluefish, do 

 not drive their prey to the surface of the water. 

 Whatever the cause, however, to old fishermen 

 the presence of this kind of gull is a strong indi- 

 cation that codfish are somewhere in the vicin- 

 ity. They are never seen in the bays, but are 

 distinctively sea birds. 



Closely resembling the other smaller species 

 is the fish tailed gull (Xema sallni), and 



