A YEAR WITH THE BIRDS 
'675 
THE SEA-GULL 
Oh, had I but thy wings when storms arise, 
Gray spirit of the sea and of the shore ! 
When the wild waters round thee rave and roar, 
Calm art thou ’neath the tumult of the skies. 
Thy plume hath spanned the deep’s immensities ; 
Above her vast and ever-shifting floor 
Thou, on thy gray wing roaming, still dost soar, 
Forever drawn to where the distance lies. 
From the dim sea’s unknowable extreme 
Thou comest, wandering through lone waterways 
To cliffs empurpled and cerulean bays; 
Then, resting near some cavern’s emerald gleam, 
Thou seem’st the soul of halcyonian days — 
The restful spirit of the sea supreme. 
— Lloyd Mifflin 
Common Tern: Sterna hirundo. S. R. 
Sea Swallozv 
Length: 14.50 inches. 
Male and Female: Bill long, coral-red at base, black toward end and 
tipped with yellow. Upper head and back of neck black. Entire 
back and wings light gray with a bluish wash. Tail coverts, 
most of tail, and wing linings white; belly and sides of breast 
grayish white; other lower parts white. Legs and feet light red. 
Season: Summer resident, breeding about the eastern part of Long 
Island Sound. 
Breeds: From the Arctic coast, somewhat irregularly to Florida and 
Texas. 
Nest: None; eggs laid on the sand and indistinguishable from those 
of other species. 
The characteristics of this Tern are the black cap, coral- 
red bill, legs, and feet. 
The Terns are not distinctly different from the Gulls, the 
size of some being identical ; but the Terns have a more trig, 
thoroughbred build, and bear the same relation to the more 
ponderous Gulls that a yacht does to a trading-craft of equal 
tonnage. The Terns have long, sharply pointed wings that 
give them a Swallow-like dash in flying either over the surface 
of the water when fishing, or above the reed beds when search- 
ing for insects, some species being partly insectivorous. This 
free, angled flight has given this species the name of Sea 
Swallow. 
