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 1S32-33, I 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 constitution 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 Vol. VII. 23
