WILDLIFE OF THE ATLANTIC COAST SALT MARSHES 



15 



larger, with leaden-gray back and wings; Bonaparte's gull (L. Phil- 

 adelphia) a little smaller, with pearl-gray back and wings and the 

 bill more slender. The laughing gull breeds commonly along the 

 whole coast line and winters from the Carolinas south. Bonaparte's 

 gull breeds in the northern interior part of the continent and winters 

 along the coast from 

 Massachusetts south- 

 ward. 



Gulls feed on al- 

 most anything avail- 

 able, hence figure 

 largely as scaven- 

 gers. They take in- 

 sects, however, as 

 well as mollusks, 

 crustaceans, and 

 fishes, but as they 

 rarely dive, are not 

 well adapted to 

 catching live fishes. 

 On the Maine coast, 

 where herring gulls 

 increased so much as 

 to become objection- 

 ably destructive to 

 eggs of other birds 

 and to fishes, clams, 

 and blueberries, steps 

 have been taken to 

 control their num- 

 bers. 



Terns have the bill 

 more slender and 

 pointed, as compared 

 with the stout bill 

 with down-curved 

 tip of the common 

 gulls, and on the 

 wing they point the 

 bill more directly 

 downward. Expert 

 as gulls are in flight, 

 they are surpassed in 

 this respect by terns, 

 which because of this skill are commonly called sea swallows. Adult 

 terns have the top of the head black and even in immature plumage 

 have a broad dark line from the eye back around the nape. The crown 

 feathers are more or less elongated so as to form a slight crest pos- 

 teriorly. The birds are mostly pearl gray in color and have the tail 

 more or less deeply forked. 



The least tern (Sterna antillarum), less than 10 inches long, is the 

 only tern that in summer has a bar of white on the forehead in front 

 of the black cap. It breeds on islands and beaches from Massachu- 

 setts south and winters from the Gulf coast southward. 



Figuee 6. — Common tern. 



