90 



BLACK-HEADED GULL 



age and sex. We feel imboldened to this declaration from the 

 circumstance of having ourselves shot Gulls which corresponded 

 almost precisely to those of the above author, of the same habits, 

 the same voice, and which were found associating together. In 

 some specimens the crown was of a dusky gray ; the upper part 

 and sides of the neck of a lead color ; the bill and legs of a dirty, 

 dark, purplish brown. Others had not the white spots above and 

 below the eyes. 



The changes of plumage, to which this genus of birds are 

 subject, have tended not a little to confound the naturalist; and a 

 considerable collision of opinion, arising from an imperfect ac- 

 quaintance with the living subjects, has been the result. To in- 

 vestigate thoroughly their history, it is obviously necessary that 

 the ornithologist should frequently explore their native haunts ; 

 and to determine the species of periodical or occasional visitors, 

 an accurate comparative examination of many specimens, either 

 alive or recently killed, is indispensible. Less confusion would 

 arise among authors and nomenclators, if they would occasionally 

 abandon their accustomed walks — their studies and their museums, 

 and seek correct knowledge in the only place where it is to be ob- 

 tained — in the grand Temple of Nature. As it respects, in par- 

 ticular, the tribe under review, the zealous inquirer would find 

 himself amply compensated for all his toil, by observing these neat 

 and clean birds coursing along the rivers and coast, enlivening the 

 prospect by their airy movements: now skimming closely over the 

 watery element, watching the motions of the fretted surges, and 

 now rising into the higher regions sporting with the winds; while 

 he inhaled the invigorating breezes of the ocean, and listened to 

 the melody of the cedar groves, mingled with the hoarse but sooth- 

 ing murmurs of the billows. 



The Black-headed Gull is the most beautiful and most soci- 

 able of its genus. They make their appearance on the coast of 

 Newjersey in the latter part of April ; and do not fail to give no- 



