36 
THE COMMON AMERICAN GULL. 
our great streams, and many return thither during the spring months 
on their way northward. Nay, to some species of Tern, the beautiful 
sand-bars and rocky beaches that occur here and there, are so attractive as 
to induce a few to remain and breed there. This is especially the case 
with the Black Terns, some of which rear their young by the rapids of the 
Ohio below Louisville, amidst the roaring sounds of which may be heard 
their shrill and continued cries. 
You must not suppose, however, that all the Gulls which migrate in that 
country take the same route ; for thousands follow the sinuosities of our 
Atlantic coast, some of them perhaps proceeding as far south in that direc- 
tion as those which follow our rivers. My opinion is, that the feebler indi- 
viduals of the different species follow the inland route, while the older and 
more hardy birds keep along the shores of the ocean. The examination of 
numerous specimens on both of these extensive tracks has almost rendered 
this a matter of certainty, yet I should be much pleased to find this opinion 
corroborated by the observations of any other student of nature. 
While on the coast of Florida, in the winter of 1832-33, 1 every day saw 
Gulls of many species, but among them all were no adult birds, with the 
exception of the Black-headed Gull of Wilson, which was very abundant. 
This greatly tended to strengthen my opinion, that the young Gulls are of 
more delicate, constitutions than their parents, which are better enabled to 
stand the rigours of the winter in the Middle States, where they are found 
equally abundant at that season. For similar reasons, I also feel assured that 
the oldest birds are those which go farthest north to breed, and that the older 
and stronger individuals are larger, with more purely tinted plumage, and 
with the colours of their legs, feet and bills, as well as of the circle around 
the eye, more vivid than those which, although found breeding, yet have 
not acquired their full maturity. In consequence of these circumstances, 
some species have been described as forming several, and the great difference 
between the plumage of the young and the old birds has led to similar errors. 
Our Common Gull is seldom seen in the adult plumage of winter beyond 
the shores of Maryland southward, or in full summer plumage beyond the 
Bay of New York, and this rarely after the middle of April, as at that period 
they gather into flocks, and remove farther north to breed. The places to 
which this species resorts for that purpose, and which I have visited, are 
several islands between Boston and Eastport, another close to Grand Manan 
at the entrance of the Bay of Fundy, the Great Gannet Rock of the Gulf 
of St. Lawrence, and certain rocky isles in the deep bays on the coast of 
Labrador. 
This species, although one of those most abundant on our coast, is so well 
acquainted with the artifices of man, that it keeps more than others beyond 
