120 BULLETIN OF WISCONSIN NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. VOL. 4, NO. 4. 
number ; in other respects they showed the great variation cus- 
tomary in this family * * * * * *. Early in July eggs were 
found in every stage of development, though in most instances 
the embryos were advanced. At the same time many newly 
hatched birds were caught skulking beneath stones or scrambling 
over the luxuriant moss." 
It would thus seem that our Gravel Island colony is consider- 
ably later than those of the Bay of Funday, which is about the 
same latitude, and corresponds very closely in date of hatching of 
the young with those observed by Coues on the Labrador coast 
much farther north. This correspondence would, I fancy, extend 
fairly well to the temperature of the waters of the respective 
regions at the time of laying. 
Several young of both gulls and terns were seen in the nests 
freeing themselves from the egg shells, and others came from 
eggs after we had removed them from the island. On emerging 
they are wet, weak and keep their eyes closed. After a short 
exposure to the air their down dries, and though the young yet 
lie prone, their eyes open and they look much smarter. Fig. 4 
of Plate 1 shows a young gull probably about an hour after leav- 
ing the egg. The skin of the belly is greatly distended, enclosing 
a large yolk quite outside of the body lines, and which seems to 
be used as a sort of cushion on which the young lies. The absorp- 
tion of this store of food probably requires some days, during 
which time it is very unlikely that other food is taken. Unfor- 
tunately we could make no observations covering either of these 
points, both from lack of facilities and the pressure of other work. 
After the young were large enough to run about, we had no 
evidence regarding younger stages, they were fed herrings ; fre- 
quently so large that an inch or more of their tails projected from 
the mouths of the birds while the heads were being digested. 
On Gravel Island and on Strawberry Islands, when we picked 
up the rather drowsy looking young gulls, they would at the time 
or a few moments afterwards make a few violent contractions of 
their abdominal muscles and throw up a fish, after which they 
would be more livelv and frequently fight viciously to recover 
their freedom. 
In December, 1886, on the Triangles, ofif the Yucatan Coast. 
I found the Gannets nesting, and whe I approached they would 
