GUEES AND TERNS OF NEW ENGLAND. 207 
whole flock will discuss the matter till they are left far be¬ 
hind, but a few powerful wing strokes brings them back to 
their posts again. A twenty knot steamer going against 
a gale has not speed enough to make them move their wings; 
they soar along, rising and falling without any perceptible 
motion of a feather, for what seems hours, if one watches 
them. 
There is a reason to believe that birds living along the 
coast or inland restrict their wanderings to a much smaller 
territory than one might expect. They have a favorite 
residence in winter as well as in summer, and the birds seen 
in the Charles River, for example, are, in many instances, 
the same individals who have wintered there for many years- 
On the other hand there are numerous nomads who have 
the whole North Atlantic for their range. Reliable sea- 
captains have affirmed that the same birds accompanied 
their ships from port to port across the ocean. This would 
seem to be doubtful, and a difficult matter to prove, and 
yet in gulls as well as in other birds there are occasionally 
anomalies which may make a certain bird recognizable. 
One famous herring gull that had a blemish of this sort, 
figured in the Auk for several years. He was called Gull 
Dick. He cruised in the vicinity of Brenton’s Reef Tight 
ship, off Narragansett Bay, becoming very tame and fami¬ 
liar with the crew. At day break he would appear and wait 
patiently for his breakfast, which was always thrown over¬ 
board for him. He remained in the neighborhood all day. 
If he was invisible at dinner time, a whistle or call would 
bring him. But just as the lanterns were hoisted for the 
night, he would start off toward the mainland, for his chos¬ 
en bed room. Interlopers were told by him plainly, that 
they must get out or fight, but his right to the place seemed 
to be unquestioned, he was rarely disturbed. 
In 1891 he had been there regularly for twenty-one years. 
On October 7th, 1893 he came again, and remained until 
