BLACK-HEADED GULL. 91 



tice of their arrival by their familiarity and loquacity. The in- 

 habitants treat them with the same indifference that they manifest 

 towards all those harmless birds which do not minister either to 

 their appetite or their avarice ; and hence the Black-heads may 

 be seen in companies around the farm-house; coursing along the 

 river shores, gleaning up the refuse of the fishermen, and the ani- 

 mal substances left by the tide; or scattered over the marshes and 

 newly ploughed fields, regaling on the worms, insects and their 

 larvse, which, in the vernal season, the bounty of Nature provides 

 for the sustenance of myriads of the feathered race. 



On the Jersey side of the Delaware bay, in the neighborhood 

 of Fishing creek, about the middle of May, the Black-headed Gulls 

 assemble in great multitudes, to feed upon the remains of the Ring 

 Crabs which the hogs have left, or upon the spawn which those 

 curious animals deposit in the sand, and which is scattered along 

 the shore by the waves. At such times if any one approach to 

 disturb them, the Gulls will rise up in clouds, every individual 

 squalling so loud, that the congregated roar may be heard at the 

 distance of two or three miles. 



It is an interesting spectacle to behold this species when about 

 recommencing their migrations. If the weather be calm, they will 

 rise up in the air, spirally, chattering all the while to each other 

 in the most sprightly manner, their notes at such times resembling 

 the singing of a hen, but far louder, and are often changed into a 

 haiv^ ha ha ha haw! the last syllable lengthened out like the exces- 

 sive laugh of a negro. When mounting and mingling together, like 

 motes in the sun beams, their black heads and wing tips, and snow 

 white plumage give them a very beautiful appearance. After gain- 

 ing an immense height they all move off, with one consent, in a 

 direct line towards the point of their destination. 



This bird breeds on the marshes. The eggs are three in 

 number, of a dun clay color, thinly marked with small irregular 

 touches of a pale purple, and as many such of pale brown ; some 



