LARUS PHILADELPHIA (ORD.).

22. Bonaparte's Gull. (60)

Tarsus about equal to middle toe and claw. Small; 12-14; wing, 9-10; tarsus, 14; bill, 11-14; very slender, like a Tern's. Adult in summer :-Bill, black; mantle, pearly blue, much paler than in atricilla; hood, slaty-plumbeous with white touches on the eyelids; many wing coverts white; feet, chromeyellow, tinged with coral red; webs, vermilion. Primaries finally:-The first 5-6 with the shafts white except at tip; first white, with outer web and extreme tip black; second white, more broadly crossed with black; 3rd to 6th8th with the black successively decreasing. In winter no hood, but a dark auricular spot. Young:-Mottled and patched above with brown or gray, and usually a dusky bar on the wing; the tail with a black bar, the primaries with more black, the bill dusky, much of the lower mandible flesh-colored or yellowish, as are the feet.

HAB.-Whole of North America, breeding mostly north of the United States; south in winter to Mexico and Central America.

The nest is usually placed on an elevation, in a tree, bush, or on a high stump; it is composed of sticks and grass with a lining of soft vegetable material.

Eggs, three or four, greenish-gray spotted, and blotched with brown and lilac of various shades.

About the middle of May this dainty little gull arrives in small flocks, and for a week or two enlivens the shores of Hamilton Bay with its airy gambols, but soon passes on farther north to its breeding grounds. In the fall it returns, subdued in dress and manners, remains till the weather begins to get cold, and then retires to the south to spend the winter.

It has a wide distribution, being found at some period of the year at almost every point on the continent. Speaking of this species in the "Birds of the North-West," Dr. Coues says: "This little gull holds its own, from the Labrador crags, against which the waves of an angered ocean ceaselessly beat, to the low, sandy shores of the Gulf, caressed by the soothing billows of a tropical sea."

Macoun mentions it as breeding on all the lakes of any size throughout the North-West, and Dr. Bell has found it along the Nelson River and at York Factory on Hudson's Bay.

In Lake Erie, a little way out from the mouth of the Grand River, is Mohawk Island, where Dr. Macallum says this gull used in former years to breed regularly along with Forster's and the Common Tern. It is still seen there in small numbers during the summer, but of late the "boys" have got into the habit of visiting the island on Sundays during the nesting time, bringing away large quantities of eggs, so

that now the place is comparatively deserted. In the spring its plumage is so perfect, and its flight so light and graceful, that it attracts notice wherever it appears. In Southern Ontario it is seen only in small numbers, the migratory route being mostly along the

Adult male:-Crown, sides of the head, and hind head, black, glossed with green; back and wings, light bluish-gray; the outer primaries, dark bluish-gray on the inner webs; upper tail coverts and tail grayish-white; neck and lower parts, pure white; bill, rich vermilion; legs and feet, black; tail, slightly forked. Young:--Mottled and barred with dull brown. Length, 20 inches.

HAB. Nearly cosmopolitan; in North America breeding southward to Virginia, Lake Michigan, Nevada and California.

Eggs, two or three, laid in a hollow in the sand; pale olive buff, marked with spots of dark brown, and lilac of various shades.

The harsh cry, long pointed wings, and coral red bill of this species at once attract the attention of anyone who may happen to be close enough for observation. In spring, when the departure of the ice gives them the privilege of roving about over the inland waters, they visit Hamilton Bay in small numbers, and are seen fishing about the mouths of the inlets, or more frequently basking in the sun on a sandy point which runs out into the bay opposite Dynes' place. In the fall they pay a similar visit, but at that season they are less attractive in appearance, the bill having lost much of its brilliancy, and the plumage being comparatively dull.

This is the largest of the terns, and it has a very wide distribution, being found breeding at different points, from the Gulf of Mexico to Alaska, and along the entire Atlantic coast. It is also said to occur in various portions of the eastern hemisphere, including Australia. It does not breed in communities like many of the other terns, being mostly found in retired places in single pairs.

STERNA SANDVICENSIS ACUFLAVIDA (CABOT.).

24. Cabot's Tern. (67)

Bill, rather longer than the head, slender, black, with the tip yellow; mouth inside, deep blue; feet, black; wings longer than tail, which is deeply forked; upper part of the head and hind neck, bluish-black; sides of the head, neck all round, and rest of the lower parts, white; the sides and breast tinged with pink; fore part of the back, scapulars and upper surface of the wings, pale bluish-gray; the tips and greater part of the inner web of the scapulars and quills, white, as are the rump and tail; the four outer quills blackish, but covered with light gray down on the outer webs, and over a considerable portion of the inner, their shafts white. Length, 15-16; wing, 12-50.

HAB.-Tropical America, northward along the Atlantic coast irregularly to southern New England.

Eggs, two or three, dropped on the dry sand, rather pointed, yellowish-drab, spotted with dark and reddish-brown.

In the spring of 1882, Dr. Garnier noticed three terns of this species coursing around a mill-pond not far from his residence at Lucknow. The Doctor attended to them at once, and the result was that one went clear off toward Lake Huron, another wriggled with difficulty after it, and the third fell dead on the pond. I afterward saw this specimen mounted, and satisfied myself of its identity. It is difficult to account for birds wandering away at times beyond their

usual limit, but we might with as much truth say that it is difficult to account for birds so regularly keeping within certain limits. When those of this class find themselves farther from home than they intended, it does not cost them much labor to correct the mistake.

This is the only record I have of the species in Ontario, and the visit can only be considered accidental, as the summer home of the species is far to the south.

They breed in colonies on the coast of Central America and on the larger West India Islands.

SUBGENUS STERNA.

STERNA FORSTERI NUTT.

25. Forster's Tern. (69)

Like the Common Tern; larger, tail longer than wings. Wing of adult, 94-104; tail, 6-8, thus often beyond the extreme of hirundo, and nearly as in paradisaa; bill, 1 (14-13), and about 2-5 deep at base (in hirundo rarely if ever so deep); tarsus seldom down to ; whole foot, about 2. Little or no plumbeous wash below; inner web of the outer tail feathers darker than outer web of the same. Young and winter birds may be distinguished from hirundo at gunshot range; the black cap is almost entirely wanting, and in its place is a broad black band on each side of the head through the eye; several lateral tail feathers are largely dusky on the inner web; their outer webs are white.

HAB. —North America generally, breeding from Manitoba southward, in the United States to Virginia, Illinois, Texas and California; in winter, southward to Brazil.

Eggs, two or three, from greenish-white to drab, blotched and spotted with brown and lilac of different shades.

This is another of the sea swallows, a name which is indiscriminately applied to all the terns. The species is abundant and widely distributed. It is one of those found by Dr. Macallum breeding on Mohawk Island, in Lake Erie. Mr. Saunders reports it breeding on the St. Clair Flats, and Macoun speaks of it breeding abundantly in Lake Manitoba, Waterhen River and Lake Winnipegosis. Farther south, it is known to breed in Virginia, Texas, Illinois and California.

Throughout Ontario generally, it is only a migrant in spring and fall. It is usually in company with the Common Tern, which it closely resembles, the points of difference being readily observed when the birds are placed side by side.

Bill, red, blackening on the terminal third, the very point usually light; feet, coral red; mantle, pearly grayish-blue; primary shafts white, except at the end; below white, washed with pale pearly plumbeous blanching on throat and lower belly; tail mostly white, the outer web of the outer feather darker than inner web of the same. Length of male, 14 (13-16); extent, 31 (29-32); wing, 10 (93-113); tail, 6 (5-7); tarsus, (-); bill, 13-14; whole foot, averaging 13; female rather less, averaging toward these minima; young birds may show a little smaller, in length of tail particularly, and so of total length; length, 12 or more; wing, 9 or more; tail, 4 or more; bill, 1 or more. In winter this species does not appear to lose the black-cap, contrary to a nearly universal rule. Young-Bill mostly dusky, but much of the under mandible yellowish: feet simply yellowish; cap more or less defective; back and wings patched and barred with gray and light brown, the bluish showing imperfectly if at all, but this color shading much of the tail; usually a blackish bar along the lesser coverts, and several tail feathers dusky on the outer web; below, pure white, or with very little plumbeous shade.

In North America

HAB.-Greater part of northern hemisphere and Africa. chiefly confined to the Eastern Province, breeding from the Arctic coast, somewhat irregularly, to Florida and Texas, and wintering farther south.

Eggs, two or three, deposited in a hollow in the sand, light brown, tinged with green and blotched with dark brown and lilac of various shades.