THE FORKED-TAILED GULL. 
11 
Standing near the water’s edge, and picking up the marine insects which 
were cast on shore. A solitary individual was seen in Prince Regent’s 
Inlet, on Sir Edward Parry’s first voyage, and many specimens were pro- 
cured in the course of the second voyage on Melville Peninsula. Captain 
Sabine also killed a pair at Spitzbergen, so that it is a pretty general 
summer visitor to the Arctic Seas, and is entitled to be enumerated amongst 
the European as well as the American birds: It arrives in the high northern 
latitudes in June, and retires to the southward in August. Specimens pro- 
cured in June and July corresponded exactly with the one described below. 
When newly killed, they all had -a delicate pink blush on their under plum- 
age. The eggs, two in number, are deposited on the bare ground, and are 
hatched in the last week of July. They are an inch and a half in length, 
and have an olive colour with many brown blotches.’’ 
At the approach of autumn, it frequently happens that several species of 
Gulls associate together, and at times congregate in great numbers on the 
outer margins of sand-bars and in the large estuaries. There they keep up 
a constant cackling, run about, dress their plumage, and await the rising of 
the waters. If disturbed at such times, they show greater shyness than 
perhaps at any other. One of the oldest birds sounds an alarm, and all 
simultaneously take to wing, disperse, and gradually rise to a great elevation, 
flying in wide circles, and moving seaward. I have thought it remarkable 
that these birds seldom shun the fishermen, while towards any one bearing 
the semblance of a gunner they act with extreme caution. Although loqua- 
cious when congregated, they are, when separated, quite silent, especially 
when on wing. In squally and rainy weather they skim low over the water 
or the land, always against the wind. They are very tenacious of life, and 
often, when wounded, revive after you had considered them incapable of 
breathing. The instant they are caught they are wont to mute and eject 
the contents of their stomach, as well as when suddenly compelled to take 
to wing, or when pursued by predaceous birds. In particular states of the 
weather they appear at a distance much larger than they really are, and, on 
such occasions, they also seem much nearer, so that the gunner is greatly 
deceived, and may shoot at them when too far off. 
Larus Sabini, Fork-tailed Gull , Swains, and Rich. F. Bor. Amer., vol. ii. p. 428. 
Fork-tailed Gull, Nutt. Man., vol. ii. p. 295. 
Forked-tailed Gull, Larus Sabini , Aud. Oru. Biog., vol. iii. p. 561. 
Male, 13, 83. 
Accidental as far south in winter as New York. Rather common along 
the coast of Nova Scotia. Breeds in Newfoundland, and along the coasts of 
the Arctic Seas. Seen on the banks of Newfoundland in great numbers. 
