ma Hy Wed Vib dite ly TAA TA) Ni an} i HEIN an iat Py VA 4 Leahey ike ave “iy a ; Po t Baymont ae gay foal se CA) nae Alt yy uN Wy OOH eg ae , Vo AAS ut ONO Heat 4 SUR IT Foil he) en hs i yee rey ey aly . Ah iy are 8 ake a Wee We Mima Ws We I Va ai Lh i) i Cat HE Kaa Sb ey vy i in ae se Meh DE 4 ry ‘i ont 4 : aaa 4 RUN ML ee ee “aii i : Hee Aes eg ‘ Ka MMe tisitiwst nae Ao aR AT NANO ea OAS La \ ai Ye bala we { - i MA 4 Yat ‘ me v ty ih) Tas iD Cee Ys) at a4 ean if Ge OMY 6 svt ogni POET a PERT EW Hyg A ie BF We} NA yee ay LM 19a i 4 eid et it ny sii 5 DOE OH Sen ¥ he yi % Se ¥ iis | is 1 OF Vas ok L ‘- tr at) Y f may 8 = ‘ n| 1 ves 4 , int i aes, es My OLS ay eae 4! iu BERDS OF AMWERIC &: THE BIRDS OF AMERICA, FROM DRAWINGS MADE IN THE UNITED STATES AND THEIR TERRITORIES. BY JOHN JAMES AUDUBON, F. R. SS. L. & E. Fellow of the Linnean and Zoological Societies of London; Member of the Lyceum of Natural History of New York, of the Natural History Society of Paris, the Wernerian Natural History Society of Edinburgh; Honorary Member of the Society of Natural History of Manchester, and of the Royal Scottish Academy of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture; Member of the American Philosophical Society, of the Academy of Natural Sciences at Philadelphia, of the Natural History Societies of Boston, of Charleston in South Carolina, the Quebec Literary and Historical Society, the Ornithological Society in London, the Société Francaise de Statistique Universelle de sce ay Paris, &c. &c. J. do AUDUBON, 77 WILLIAM STREET, NEW YORK, 34 NORTH FRONT STREET, PHILADELPHIA. 1844, Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1839, by J. J. Aupuzon, in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Reese E. G. DORSEY, PRINTER, LIBRARY STREET, PHILADELPHIA. CON TENT 5. Genus III. Tacuyrsetres. FrigAtTre-Birp. - a Frigate Pelican.—Man-of-War-Bird, Tachypetes Aquilus, - Genus IV. PrEetecanus. PELICAN. = < = American White Pelican, - - Pelecanus Americanus, Brown Pelican, - - - Juscus, - Genus V. Suita. GANNET. - - - - - Common Gannet, - - - - Sula bassana, - - Booby Gannet, . - - Susca, - - Genus VI. Parton. Tropic Birp. - - - Tropic Bird, - - - Phaeton xthereus, FAMILY XLII LARINA. GULLS. - - Genus I. Ruyncnors. SKIMMER. - - - Black Skimmer, or Razor- billed Shearwater, - d ‘ Rhynchops nigra, Genus II. Srerna. TeErRn. = “ Hi ss Cayenne Tern, - - - - Sterna Cayana, Marsh or Gull-billed Tern, - - anglica, - Sandwich Tern, - - - cantiaca, Sooty Tern, - - - - Juliginosa, Common Tern, - - - - fTirundo, Havell’s Tern, - - - - Havellit, - Trudeau’s Tern, - . - - Trudeauii, vl Arctic Tern, - Roseate Tern, - - Black Tern, - Least Tern, - - Noddy Tern, - Genus III. Larvs. Forked-tailed Gull, Ross’ Gull, - - Bonaparte’s Gull, - CONTENTS. - - Sterna Arctica, Black-headed, or Laughing Gull, —- Franklin’s Rosy Gull, - Kittiwake Gull, Ivory Gull, - Common American Gull, White-winged Silvery Gull, - Western Gull, - Herring or Silvery Gull, Glaucous Gull or Burgomaster, © - Great Black-backed Gull, FAMILY XLIII. PROCELLARINA. FULMARS. Genus I. Lesrris. Pomarine Jager, - Richardson’s Jager, Arctic Jager, - JAGER. - Dougallii, - NIGTA, - - minula, - - stolida, - - Larus Sabini, - - Rossti, - - Bonapartii, - Atricilla, - Franklinii, - tridactylus, - eburneus, - zonorhynchus, - leucopterus, occidentalis, argentatus, glaucus, - - Marinus, - - - - Lestris pomarinus, - Genus II. DiomEpEA. ALBATROSS. Yellow-nosed Albatross, Black-footed Albatross, Dusky Albatross, - Richardsonii, parasiticus, - Diomedea chlororhynchos, NISTUPES, - Susca, - Genus III. Procettarta. FuLMAR. - ~ - - Gigantic Fulmar, - Common Fulmar, Pacific Fulmar, - Slender-billed Fulmar, - - Procellaria gigantea, - Genus IV. Purrinvs. SHEARWATER. glacialis, - pacifica, - tenutrostris, 107 112 116 119 123 126 127 130 131 136 145 146 150 152 159 161 163 170 172 184 185 186 190 192 195 196 198 200 201 202 204 208 210 211 CONTENTS. Wandering Shearwater, - - Manks Shearwater, - - - Dusky Shearwater, - - - Puffinus cinereus, — - anglorum, - obscurus,. - Genus V. THALASSIDROMA. PETREL. < - = Leach’s Petrel.—Forked-tailed : Petrel, - - - Wilson’s Petrel.—Mother Carey’s Chicken, - - - ‘ Least Petrel—Mother Carey’s Chicken, - - - ‘ Thalassidroma Leachit, Wilsonii, pelagica, FAMILY XLIV. ALCINA. AUKS. - - = 2 Genus I. Mormon. Porrin. Tufted Puffin, - = = : Large-billed Puffin, - < Common or Arctic Puffin, - - Genus II. Anca. AuvkK. Great Auk, - - - : “ Razor-billed Auk, = = 5 Mormon cirrhatus, - glacialis, - arcticus, - “lca impennis, - - Torda, . - - Genus II]. PuHateris. PHALERIS. - - - - Curled-crested Phaleris, = 2 Knobbed-billed Phaleris, = é Phaleris cristatella, - nodirostris, - GenusIV. Merceurus. SEea-Dove. - = = = Common Sea-Dove.—Little Guille- : Mergulus alle, THOR nee aL Genus V. Uria. GuILLEMoT. Black-throated Guillemot, - - Horned-billed Guillemot, - - Large-billed Guillemot, - - Foolish Guillemot.—Murre, - Black Guillemot, - - - Slender-billed Guillemot, - - Uria antiqua, - - occidentalis, - Brunnichit, - Troile, - - Grylle, - : Townsendit, - vil , 212 vill CONTENTS. FAMILY XLV. COLYMBINA. DIVERS AND GREBES. 280 Genus I. Coxtympus. Diver. - - - - - = S251 Great Northern Diver or Loon, - Colymbus glacialis, - - 282 Black-throated Diver, - - - rcticus, - = 1295 Red-throated Diver, . - - - septentrionalis, - 299 Genus II. Popitcrrs. GreBE. - - - - - - 307 Crested Grebe, - - - - Podiceps cristatus, - - 308 Red-necked Grebe, - - . rubricollis, - =) +312 Horned Grebe, - - - - cornutus, - = OG Eared Grebe, - - - - auritus, - = ae Pied-billed Dobchick, - - - Carolinensis, - $24 NEW SPECIES—NOT IN MY SYNOPSIS. FAMILY XV. FRINGILLINA. FINCHES. Genus IX. Frinerztiua. Fine. Harris’ Finch, - - - - Fringilla Harrisii, - = baal FAMILY XX. VIREONINA. GREENLETS. Genus I. Vireo. GREENLET. Bell’s Vireo or Greenlet, - - Vireo Bellii, - - -> B38 FAMILY XIV. ALAUDINA. LARKS. Genus I. Axuaupa. Lark. Sprague’s Missouri Lark, - - Alauda Spragueti, - - 7334 FAMILY XV. FRINGILLINA. FINCHES. Genus I. PuiecrropHanes. LaArx-Buntine. Smith’s Lark-Bunting, - - - Plectrophanes Smithii, - 98868 FAMILY XV. FRINGILLINA. FINCHES. Genus IJ]. Emprriza. Bunrtine. Le Conte’s Sharp-tailed Bunting, - Emberiza Le Conteit, - 338 FAMILY XVII. STURNINA. STARLINGS. Genus I. SrurneLtitA. MEADOW-STARLING. Missouri Meadow-Lark, - - - Sturnella neglecta, - -| 338 FAMILY VII. MUSCICAPINA. FLYCATCHERS. Genus II. Muscicapa. FiycatTcHer. Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, = - - Muscicapa flaviventris, ~ 9 Baa FAMILY VII. Genus II. Least Flycatcher, FAMILY XVI. =- CONTENTS. MUSCICAPINA. FLYCATCHERS. Muscicapa. FLiycarcuer. ~ Muscicapa minima, Genus V. QuiscaLus. Crow-Biacxszirp. Brewer’s Blackbird, FAMILY XV. Genus II. Shattuck’s Bunting, FAMILY. XXVI. Genus I. Quiscalus Brewerii, EXMBERIZA. BuNnrTING. - Emberiza Shattuckii, PICINA.. WOODPECKERS. Picu Missouri Red-moustached Wood- pecker, s. WoopPrECKER. ‘ Picus Ayresii, - FRINGILLINA. FINCHES. AGELAINA. MARSH-BLACKBIRDS. FAMILY IV. CAPRIMULGINA. GOAT-SUCKERS. CAPRIMULGUS. GOAT-SUCKER. Genus I. Nuttall’s Whip-poor-will, FAMILY XXIX. COLUMBINA. PIGEONS. Texan Turtle-Dove, FAMILY XIV. ALAUDINA. LARKS. Genus I. Genus I. Western Shore Lark, - FAMILY XXXIX. ANATINA. DUCKS. - Co Caprimulgus Nuttallii, LUMBA. Dove. Columba Trudeauit, ALAuDA. Lark. Alauda rufa, - Genus V. Furieguta. Sra-Ducx. Common American Scaup Duck, - FAMILY XVI. Common Troupial, Genus IV. Fuligula Marila, Icterus. HANGNEST. Icterus vulgaris, FAMILY XV. FRINGILLINA. FINCHES. Genus II. Baird’s Bunting, EmperizA. Bunrine. Emberiza Bairdit, AGELAINA. MARSH-BLACKBIRDS. = 1X 345 345 347 348 352 355 357 a9 Ou <=) Wee nig ee RSE Re hay fie ae ine Sree a me hie ; dina ‘ert by Rene si} PRS bo Ravi ct Bikey Ss OF AME hol Oa. Genus II].—TACHYPETES, Vieill. FRIGATE-BIRD. Brit longer than the head, strong, broader than high, unless towards the curved extremity; upper mandible with its dorsal line slightly concave, at the tip decurved, its ridge broad and nearly flat at the base, narrowed and more convex towards the end, the sides separated from the ridge by a narrow groove, convex, the edges sharp, direct, irregularly jagged, with a promi- nence at the commencement of the curve at the elongated, compressed, tapering, decurved point; lower mandible with the angle extremely long, narrow, the membrane bare and dilatable into a small pouch, the very short dorsal line decurved, the sides erect at the base, convex in the rest of their extent, the edges sharp, much inflected, irregularly jagged, at the tip narrow and decurved. Nostrils basal, linear, inconspicuous. Head of moderate size, oblong; neck of moderate length, stout; body rather slender. Feet very short, stout; tibia very short; tarsus extremely short, feathered; toes all placed in the same plane, and connected by short deeply emarginate webs, which run out narrow along the sides, scutellate above, first small, second shorter than fourth, third much longer. Claws strong, compressed, curved, acute, that of the third toe long, with the inner edge pectinate. Plumage compact, glossy; feathers of the head, neck, and back, lanceolate. Wings extremely long, pointed, the first quill longest; the rest rapidly diminishing; secondaries very short, the inner long and tapering. ‘Tail very long, deeply forked, of twelve feathers. Tongue exceedingly small, fleshy, flattened; cesophagus very wide; proventricular glands forming a complete belt; sto- mach very small, roundish, its muscular coat thin, the inner soft and corru- gated; no pyloric lobe; intestine of moderate length; coeca extremely small; cloaca globular. Vou. VII. 2 10 THE FRIGATE PELICAN.—MAN-OF-W AR-BIRD. +TacuyrEetTes Aquitus, Linn. PLATE CCCCXXIJ.—Aputr. Previous to my visit to the Florida Keys, I had seen but few Frigate-birds, and those only at some distance, while I was on the Gulf of Mexico, so that I could merely recognise them by their mode of flight. On approaching Indian Key, however, I observed several of them, and as I proceeded farther south, their numbers rapidly increased; but on the Tortugas very few were observed. This bird rarely travels farther eastward than the Bay of Charles- ton in South Carolina, although it is abundant at all seasons from Cape Florida to Cape Sable, the two extreme points of the peninsula. How far south it may be found I cannot tell. The Frigate Pelicans may be said to be as gregarious as our Vultures. You see them in small or large flocks, according to circumstances. Like our Vultures, they spend the greater part of the day on wing, searching for food; and like them also, when gorged or roosting, they collect in large flocks, either to fan themselves or to sleep close together. They are equally lazy, tyrannical, and rapacious, domineering over birds weaker than themselves, and devouring the young of every species, whenever an opportunity offers, in the absence of the parents; in a word, they are most truly Marine Vul- tures. About the middle of May, a period which to me appeared very late for birds found in so warm a climate as that of the Florida Keys, the Frigate Pelicans assemble in flocks of from fifty to five hundred pairs or more. They are seen flying at a great height over the islands on which they have bred many previous seasons, courting for hours together; after which they return towards the mangroves, alight on them, and at once begin to repair the old nests or construct new ones. They pillage each other’s nests of their materials, and make excursions for more to the nearest keys. They break the dry twigs of trees with ease, passing swiftly on wing, and snap- ping them off by a single grasp of their powerful bill. It is indeed a beau- tiful sight to see them when thus occupied, especially when several are so engaged, passing and repassing with the swiftness of thought over the trees whose tops are blasted; their purpose appears as if accomplished by magic. N° 85. P1421. mig JA: Yo 2 WZ ZS poe c gy aa Che VE Mute ae Cc DLagte le C ea Drawn tron Maur by J) AndubonkFRELLS, Lith Lrinted be by J Bower, Pika © THE FRIGATE PELICAN. 11 I know only two other birds that perform the same action: one of them is the Forked-tail Hawk, the other our swift or Chimney Swallow; but neither of them is so expert as the Frigate Pelican. It sometimes happens that this bird accidentally drops a stick while travelling towards its nest, when, if this should happen over the water, it plunges after it and seizes it with its bill before it has reached the waves. The nests are usually placed on the south side of the keys, and on such trees as hang over the water, some low, others high, several in a single tree, or only one, according to the size of the mangrove, but in some cases lining the whole side of the island. They are composed of sticks crossing each other to the height of about two inches, and are flattish, but not very large. When the birds are incubating, their long wings and tail are seen extending beyond the nest for more than a foot. The eggs are two or three, more frequently the latter number, measure two inches and seven-eighths in length, two in breadth, being thus of a rather elongated form, and have a thick smooth shell, of a greenish-white colour, frequently soiled by the filth of the nests. The young are covered with yellowish-white down, and look at first as if they had no feet. They are fed by regurgitation, but grow tardily, and do not leave the nest until they are able to follow their parents on wing. At that period the plumage of the young females is marbled with grey and brown, with the exception of the head and the lower parts, which are white. The tail is about half the length it attains at the first moult, and is brownish-black, as are the primaries. After the first change of plumage, the wings become longer, and their flight is almost as elegant and firm as that of older birds. The second spring plumage of this sex is brownish-black on the upper parts, that colour extending over the head and around the neck in irregular patches of brown, continued in a sharp angle towards the breast, but sepa- rated on its sides by the white that ascends on either side of the neck towards the head. The lower tail-coverts are brownish-black, as are the lower parts of the belly and flanks; the shoulders alone remaining as at first. The tail and wings are perfect. The third spring, the upper parts of the head and neck are of a purer brownish-black, which extends down to the extremity of the angle, as are the feathers of the belly and the lower tail-coverts, the dark colour reaching now to within five inches of the angle on the breast. The white of the intermediate space has become much purer; here and there light tints of bronze appear; the feet, which at first were dull yellow, have become of a rich reddish-orange, and the bill is pale blue. The bird is now capable of 12 THE FRIGATE PELICAN. breeding, although its full plumage is not obtained until the next moult, when the colours become glossy above, and the white of the breast pure. The changes which the males undergo are less remarkable. They are at first, when fully fledged, entirely of the colour seen on the upper parts of the young females; and the tint is merely improved afterwards, becoming of a deeper brownish-black, and acquiring purer reflections of green, purple and bronze, which in certain lights are seen on every part of the head, neck and body, and in very old males on the wings and tail. They also commence breeding the third spring. But I now return to the habits of this interest- ing bird. i The Frigate Pelican is possessed of a power of flight which I conceive superior to that of perhaps any other bird. However swiftly the Cayenne Tern, the smaller Gulls or the Jager move on wing, it seems a matter of mere sport to it to overtake any of them. The Goshawk, the Peregrine, and the Gyr Falcon, which I conceive to be the swiftest of our Hawks, are obliged to pursue their victim, should it be a Green-winged Teal or Pas- senger Pigeon, at times for half a mile, at the highest pitch of their speed, before they can secure them. The bird of which I speak comes from on high with the velocity of a meteor, and on nearing the object of its pursuit, which its keen eye has spied while fishing at a distance, darts on either side to cut off all retreat, and with open bill forces it to drop or disgorge the fish which it has just caught. See him now! Yonder, over the waves leaps the brilliant dolphin, as he pursues the flying-fishes, which he expects to seize the moment they drop into the water. The Frigate-bird, who has marked them, closes his wings, dives toward them, and now ascending, holds one of the tiny things across his bill. Already fifty yards above the sea, he spies a porpoise in full chase, launches towards the spot, and in passing seizes the mullet that had escaped from its dreaded foe; but now, having obtained a fish too large for his gullet, he rises, munching it all the while, as if bound for the skies. Three or four of his own tribe have watched him and obsery- ed his success. ‘They shoot towards him on broadly extended pinions, rise in wide circles, smoothly, yet as swiftly as himself. They are now all at the same height, and each as it overtakes him, lashes him with its wings, and tugs at his prey. See! one has fairly robbed him, but before he can secure the contested fish it drops. One of the other birds has caught it, but he is pursued by all. From bill to bill, and through the air, rapidly falls the fish, until it drops quite dead on the waters, and sinks into the deep. Whatever disappointment the hungry birds feel, they seem to deserve it all. Sights like these you may every day see, if you take ship and sail for the Florida Keys. I have more to tell you, however, and of things that to me were equally pleasing. While standing in the cool veranda of Major Guas- THE FRIGATE PELICAN. 13 sEL of the United States army, at Key West, I observed a Frigate Pelican © that had forced a Cayenne Tern, yet in sight, to drop a fish, which the broad- winged warrior had seized as it fell. This fish was rather large for the Tern, and might probably be about eight inches in length. The Frigate Pelican mounted with it across his bill about a hundred yards, and then tossing it up caught it as it fell, but not in the proper manner. He therefore dropped it, but before it had fallen many yards, caught it again. Still it was not in a good position, the weight of the head, it seemed, having prevented the bird from seizing it by that part. A second time the fish was thrown upwards, and now at last was received in a convenient manner, that is, with its head downwards, and immediately swallowed. When the morning light gladdens the face of nature, and while the war- | blers are yet waiting in silence the first rays of the sun, whose appearance | they will hail with songs of joy, the Frigate-bird, on extended pinions, sails from his roosting place. Slowly and gently, with retracted neck he glides, — as if desirous of quietly trying the renovated strength of his wings. ‘Toward the vast deep he moves, rising apace, and before any other bird views the bright orb emerging from the waters. Pure is.the azure of the heavens, and rich the deep green of the smooth sea below; there is every prospect of the finest weather; and now the glad bird shakes his pinions; and far up into the air, far beyond the reach of man’s unaided eye, he soars in his quiet but rapid flight. There he floats in the pure air, but thither can fancy alone follow him. Would that I could accompany him! But now I see him again, with half-closed wings, gently falling towards the sea. He pauses awhile, and again dives through the air. Thrice, four times, has he gradu- ally approached the surface of the ocean; now he shakes his pinions as violently as the swordsman whirls his claymore; all is right; and he sweeps away, shooting to this side and that, in search of prey. Mid-day has arrived, and threatening clouds obscure the horizon; the breeze, ere felt, ruffles the waters around; a thick mist advances over the deep; the sky darkens, and as the angry blasts curl the waves, the thunder mutters afar; all nature is involved in gloom, and all is in confusion, save only the Man-of-war-bird, who gallantly meets the gale. If he cannot force his way against the storm, he keeps his ground, balancing himself like a Hawk watching his prey beneath; but now the tempest rages, and rising obliquely, he shoots away, and ere long surmounts the tumultuous clouds, entering a region calm and serene, where he floats secure until the world below has resumed its tranquillity. Thave frequently observed the Frigate-bird scratch its head with its feet while on wing; and this happening one day, when the bird fell through the air, as it is accustomed to do at such times, until it came within shot, I killed 14. THE FRIGATE PELICAN. it when almost over my head, and immediately picked it up. I had been for years anxious to know what might be the use of the pectinated claws of birds; and on examining both its feet with a glass, I found the racks crammed with insects, such as occur on the bird’s head, and especially around the ears. I also observed that the pectinated claws of birds of this species were much longer, flatter, and more comb-like than those of any other species with which I am acquainted. I now therefore feel convinced, that, how- ever useful this instrument may be on other occasions, it is certainly employ- ed in cleansing parts of the skin of birds which cannot be reached by the bill. At times these birds may be seen chasing and jostling each other as if engaged in a frolic, after which they bear away on extended wings, and fly in a direct course until out of sight. But although their flight is easy and powerful, in a degree not surpassed by any other bird, they move with great difficulty on the ground. They can rise, however, from a sand-bar, no matter how low and level it may be. At such times, as well as when sitting on the water, which it occasionally does, the bird raises its wings almost perpendicularly, spreads its tail half erect, and at the first flap of the former, and simultaneous stroke of the latter, on the ground or the water, bounces away. | Its feet, however, are of little service beyond what I have mention- ed, and the supporting of its body when it has alighted on a branch, on which it rarely stands very erect, although it moves sideways on it, as Parrots sometimes do. It never dives, its bill in form resembling that of the Cormorants, which also never plunge from on wing in pursuit of fish, and only dip into the water when dropping from a perch or a rock to escape danger, as the Anhingas and some other birds are also accustomed to do. When the Frigate Pelican is in want of a dead fish, a crab, or any floating garbage suited to its appetite, it approaches the water in the manner of Gulls, holding its wings high, and beating them until the bill has performed its duty, which being accomplished, the bird immediately rises in the air and devours its prey. These birds see well at night, although they never go to sea excepting by day. At various times I have accidentally sailed by mangrove keys on which hundreds were roosted, and apparently sound asleep, when, on my firing a gun for the purpose of starting whatever birds might be there, they would all take to wing and sail as beautifully as during day, returning to the trees as the boats proceeded. They are by no means shy; indeed they seem unaware of danger from a gun, and rarely all go off when a party is shooting at them, until a considerable number has been obtained. The only difficulty I experienced in procuring them was on account of the height to which they sO soon rose on leaving the trees; but we had excellent guns, and our worthy THE FRIGATE PELICAN. 15 pilot’s “Long Tom’’ distinguished itself above the rest. At one place, where we found many hundreds of them, they sailed for nearly half an hour over our heads, and about thirty were shot, some of them at a remarkable height, when we could hear the shot strike them, and when, as they fell to the water, the sound of their great wings whirling through the air resembled that produced by a sail flapping during a calm. When shot at and touched ever so slightly, they disgorge their food in the manner of Vultures, Gulls and some Terns; and if they have fallen and are approached, they continue to vomit the contents of their stomach, which at times are extremely putrid and nauseous. When seized, they evince little disposition to defend them- selves, although ever so slightly wounded, but struggle and beat themselves until killed. Should you, however, place your fingers within their open bill, you might not withdraw them scatheless. They are extremely silent, and the only note which I heard them utter was a rough croaking one. They devour the young of the Brown Pelican when quite small, as well as those of other birds whose nests are flat and exposed during the absence of the parent birds; but their own young suffer in the same manner from the still more voracious Turkey Buzzard. The notion that the Frigate-bird forces the Pelicans and Boobies to disgorge their prey is erroneous. The Pelican, if attacked or pursued by this bird, could alight on the water or elsewhere, and by one stroke of its sharp and powerful bill destroy the rash aggressor. The Booby would in all probability thrust its strong and pointed bill against the assailant with equal success. The Cayenne Tern, and other species of that genus, as well as several small Gulls, all abundant on the Florida coasts, are its purveyors, and them it forces to disgorge or drop their prey. Those of the deep are the dolphins, porpoises, and occasionally the sharks. ‘Their sight is wonderfully keen, and they now and then come down from a great height to pick up a dead fish only a few inches long floating on the water. “Their flesh is tough, dark, and, as food, unfit for any other person than one in a state of starvation. TacHypPetes Aquitus, Bonap. Syn., p. 406. Fricate Perican, Nutt. Man., vol. ii. p. 491. Fricate Pe.ican, T'achypetes Aquilis, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. iii. p. 495; vol. v. p. 634. Adult, 41, 86. Resides constantly on and about the Florida Keys, where it breeds in vast numbers on trees. Ranges over the Gulf of Mexico, Bays of Texas, but rarely seen to the eastward of North Carolina. Adult Male. Bill much longer than the head, strong, broader than deep, excepting 16 THE FRIGATE PELICAN. towards the curved extremity, the edges irregularly jagged. Upper man- dible with the dorsal line slightly concave, at the tip decurved, its ridge broad and nearly flat at the base, narrowed and more convex towards the end, the sides separated from the ridge by a narrow groove, convex, the edges sharp and inflected, with a prominence at the commencement of the curve of the elongated compressed hooked point. Nostrils basal, linear, in- conspicuous. Lower mandible with the angle extremely long, narrow, the membrane bare and dilatable into a small pouch, the very short dorsal line decurved, the sides erect at the base, convex in the rest of their extent, the edges sharp and much inflected, at the narrow tip decurved. Head of moderate size, oblong. Neck of moderate length, stout. Body rather slender. Feet very short, stout; tibia very short; tarsus extremely short, feathered; toes all placed in the same plane, and connected by short reticulated webs with concave margins, but running narrow along the sides; they are scutellate above, broad and papillate beneath; first toe small, second shorter than fourth, third much longer than the latter. Claws strong, com- pressed, curved, acute, that of middle toe long, obliquely flattened, and pectinate on the inner edge. Eyelids and gular sac, with the anterior part of the neck, bare. Plumage compact, on the head, neck, breast, and back, shining. The feathers of the head, neck, and back are lanceolate and acuminate; of the breast and sides broader; of the wings small and rounded. Wings extremely long, pointed, the first quill longest, the rest rapidly diminishing; the secondaries very short, obliquely rounded and acuminate, the inner long and tapering. Tail very long, deeply forked, of twelve rounded feathers, the outer narrow and abruptly rounded. Bill light purplish-blue, white in the middle, the curved tips dusky. Inside of mouth carmine; gular sac orange. Bare space about the eye purplish-blue; iris deep brown. Feet light carmine above, orange beneath. The general colour of the plumage is brownish-black, the head, neck, back, breast, and sides, splendent with green and purple reflections, the former predominating on the head, the latter on the back. The wings are tinged with grey, the inner secondaries and tail with brown; the shafts of the former black, of the latter brown. I have observed in specimens which I considered to be very old, that the gular sac was covered with pustules, similar to those found at times around the base of the mandibles of the Cathartes Mura, and which appear to be the effects of disease, occasioned by their coming frequently in contact wll putrid substances. Length to end of tail 41 inches, to end of wings 37; to end of claws 243; wing from flexure 25, tail 18; extent of wings 86; bill along the back 54, THE FRIGATE PELICAN. 17 along the edge of lower mandible 574; tarsus 2; middle toe 24, its claw 18. Weight 3 lbs. 6 oz. The Adult Female differs from the salen in several respects. The former has the whole plumage dark-coloured, whereas the latter has a broad white space on the breast, that colour extending forwards along the sides of the neck, and encircling it about the middle. The feathers of the back are less elongated and pointed, and their lustre is much inferior to that of the male. The dark parts also are more tinged with brown, and most of the smaller wing-coverts are of the latter colour. Male. As in the Gannets and Pelicans, the cells of the subcutaneous cellular tissue are extremely large and distensile. The mouth is very wide, its breadth being 1 inch 7 twelfths, opening to nearly beneath the posterior angle of the eye. The palate is convex, with two horny thin-edged ridges, and anteriorly a median ridge of the same kind extending to the tip. The posterior aperture of the nares is linear, 14 inches in length. The lower mandible is extremely narrow toward the end, and deeply grooved, with a kind of joint on each side near the base, rendering it capable of being ex- tended to 2 inches 5 twelfths. The tongue is similar to that of the Pelicans, Gannets, and Cormorants, being exceedingly small, 74 twelfths in length, fleshy, flattened, 45 twelfths in breadth at the base, 2 twelfths at the middle, the tip obtuse. The nostrils, which are situated at the commencement of the groove on each side of the ridge, are so inconspicuous as to be with difficulty detected, being quite linear, 35 twelfths long, and covered above by a mem- branous edge. The aperture of the ear is of moderate size, 3 twelfths in width; that of the eye is 4 inch. The heart is of an ovate form, broader and rounder than usual, its length 1 inch 43 twelfths, its breadth 1 inch 2 twelfths. The lobes of the liver are very unequal, the right being 2 inches 1 twelfth long, the left 1 inch 5 twelfths; the gall-bladder oblong, 9 twelfths in length, 5 twelfths in breadth. The cesophagus, a b c, is 114 inches long, at the commencement 24 inches in width, presently contracting to 1 inch 9 twelfths, at the lower part of the neck expanded to 2 inches, within the thorax 1 inch 4 twelfths; the proven- triculus, 6 c, 1 inch 5 twelfths, its belt of glandules complete, 1 inch 2 twelfths in breadth, 7 prominent ruge. The stomach, ¢ d, is very small, roundish, 1 inch 4 twelfths in diameter, considerably compressed; its mus- 7 coat very thin, consisting of a single series of fasciculi; the tendons circular, 4 inch in diameter; its inner coat soft and corrugated, several of the proventricular rugee running down upon it. The walls of the cesophagus are of moderate thickness, the external transverse fibres distinct, the inner coat longitudinally plaited. The stomach differs from that of all the other Voz, VII. 3 THE FRIGATE PELICAN. Pelecaninz in having no pyloric lobe. The duode- num also, d ef, does not at first pass forward, but di- rectly curves round the sto- mach, returning at the dis- tance of 24 inches, and the intestine, de fg hi, is con- voluted with 9 folds. It is 36 inches long, 5 twelfths wide in the duodenal por- tion, contracts to 3 twelfths; the cceca are two. small SS —— ——| knobs 2 twelfths long, 14 twelfths in breadth; the rectum 3 inches long, for 1 inch 8 twelfths its width is 34 twelfths, the remaining part forming a globular 5 cloaca 14 inches in diame- ter. The trachea is 84 inches long, its width at the com- mencement 44 twelfths, presently after 4 twelfths, contracting to 32 twelfths. It is a little flattened: the rings 112, cartilaginous. The inferior larynx is great- ly expanded antero-poste- riorly, and the first dimi- LL Z UY LY Yi ff —Yff Hii = ul diate ring is 5 twelfths in extent, with a somewhat smaller ring beyond it. The lateral muscles are very slender; the sterno-tracheal which passes off at the dis tance of 4 inch from the bifurcation, is strong; there is a slender slip on each THE FRIGATE PELICAN. 19 side going to the bronchial membrane. The bronchi are wide, and formed — of 20 half rings. : The sternum is extremely singular, on account of its great width and concavity, compared with its length; the latter being only 24 inches, while the breadth at the anterior costal processes is 24 inches. The crest is thus extremely short, but of considerable height, its most prominent part being 103 twelfths. The coracoid bones are remarkably large, and so firmly fixed in the joint as to have just the slightest perceptible motion. The furcula is also very large and wide, of the form of the letter U, its crura at their union forming a large mass of solid bone, continuous with the crest of the sternum. The posterior edge of the sternum has a very slight sinus on each side. Now, in this bird, which is confessed to be inferior to none in its power of flight, the sternal crest is not nearly so prominent as that of a Grouse or Partridge, so that the supposed indication which this part affords of vigorous flight is evidently fallacious. The sternum, although much shorter, resem- bles that of the Pelicans, Cormorants, and Anhingas, as well as in a less degree that of the Gannets. > Genus [V.—PELECANUS, Zinn. PELICAN. Bill about thrice the length of the head, rather slender, almost straight, depressed; upper mandible linear, depressed, convex at the base, gradually flattened, and a little enlarged to near the end, when it narrows, and termi- nates in a hooked point; ridge broad and convex at the base, gradually nar- rowed and flattened beyond the middle, separated by a groove from the sides, erect at the base, sloping towards the edges, edges very acute, with an internal groove; lower mandible with the angle excessively long, extending to the unguis, the sides erect and convex, the edges thin and involute, the @” decurved. Nostrils basal, lateral, linear, concealed by the wrinkles of he skin. Head small, oblong; neck long, stout; body full, rather flattened. Feet short, and very stout; tarsus short, compressed, covered all round with hexagonal scales; toes in the same plane, all connected by webs, first shortest, fourth longer than third. Claws short, strong, curved, that of the third 90 AMERICAN WHITE PELICAN. toe pectinate. Feathers of head and neck exceedingly small, slender, downy; of the other parts generally lanceolate and acuminate; wings very long, rather narrow, rounded; primaries much curved. Tail short, broad, rounded, of more than sixteen feathers. An enormous bare, extensile, gular sac; tongue extremely small, papilliform; cesophagus excessively wide; proven- tricular glands arranged in broad longitudinal series; stomach very small, with its muscular coat thin, its epithelium smooth and soft; a globular pyloric lobe; intestine long and narrow; cceca very small, cylindrical; cloaca globular. AMERICAN WHITE PELICAN. + PELEcCANUS AMERICANUS, ud. PLATE CCCCXXII.—Aputr Mate. I feel great pleasure, good reader, in assuring you, that our White Pelican, which has hitherto been considered the same as that found in Europe, is quite different. In consequence of this discovery, I have honoured it with the name of my beloved country, over the mighty streams of which, may this splendid bird wander free and unmolested to the most distant times, as it has already done from the misty ages of unknown antiquity. In Dr. Ricnuarpson’s Introduction to the second volume of the Fauna Boreali-Americana, we are informed, that the Pelecanus Onocrotalus (which is the bird now named P. Americanus) flies in dense flocks all the summer in the Fur Countries. At page 472, the same intrepid traveller says, that ‘‘Pelicans are numerous in the interior of the Fur Countries up to the sixty- first parallel; but they seldom come within two hundred miles of Hudson’s Bay. They deposit their eggs usually on rocky islands, on the brink of cascades, where they can scarcely be approached; but they are otherwise by _ no means shy birds.” My learned friend also speaks of the “long thin bony process seen on the upper mandible of the bill of this species;’’ and althou neither he nor Mr. Swainson pointed out the actual differences otherwi existing between this and the European species, he states that no such appearance has been described as occurring on the bills of the White Pelicans of the old Continent. Lranvelrore Nadureby J I Audubon PRE ILS. hith Printed & Col br J. LT! Bower, LP AMERICAN WHITE PELICAN. 91 When, somewhat more than thirty years ago, I first removed to Kentucky, | Pelicans of this species were frequently seen by me on the sand-bars of the Ohio, and on the rock-bound waters of the rapids of that majestic river, situated, as you well know, between Louisville and Shippingport. Nay when, a few years afterwards, I established myself at Henderson, the White Pelicans were so abundant that I often killed several at a shot, on a well known sand-bar, which protects Canoe Creek Island. During those delight- ful days of my early manhood, how often have I watched them with delight! Methinks indeed, reader, those days have returned to me, as if to enable me the better once more to read the scattered notes contained in my often- searched journals. Ranged along the margins of the sand-bar, in broken array, stand a hun- dred heavy-bodied Pelicans. Gorgeous tints, all autumnal, enrich the foliage of every tree around, the reflection of which, like fragments of the rainbow, seems to fill the very depths of the placid and almost sleeping waters of the Ohio. The subdued and ruddy beams of the orb of day assure me that the Indian summer has commenced, that happy season of unrivalled loveliness and serenity, symbolic of autumnal life, which to every enthusiastic lover of nature must be the purest and calmest period of his career. Pluming them- selves, the gorged Pelicans patiently wait the return of hunger. Should one chance to gape, all, as if by sympathy, in succession open their long and broad mandibles, yawning lazily and ludicrously. Now, the whole length of their largest quills is passed through the bill, until at length their apparel is as beautifully trimmed as if the party were to figure at a route. But mark, the red beams of the setting sun tinge the tall tops of the forest trees; the birds experience the cravings of hunger, and to satisfy them they must now labour. Clumsily do they rise on their columnar legs, and heavily waddle to the water. But now, how changed do they seem! Lightly do they float, as they marshal themselves, and extend their line, and now their broad paddle-like feet propel them onwards. In yonder nook, the small fry are dancing in the quiet water, perhaps in their own manner bidding fare- well to the orb of day, perhaps seeking something for their supper. Thou- sands there are, all gay, and the very manner of their mirth, causing the waters to sparkle, invites their foes to advance toward the shoal. And now the Pelicans, aware of the faculties of their scaly prey, at once spread out their broad wings, press closely forward with powerful strokes of their feet, drive the little fishes toward the shallow shore, and then, with their enor- mous pouches spread like so many bag-nets, scoop them out and devour them in thousands. How strange it is, reader, that birds of this species should be found breed- ing in the Fur Countries, at about the same period when they are to be found 99 AMERICAN WHITE PELICAN. on the waters of the inland bays of the Mexican Gulf! On the 2nd of April, 1837, I met with these birds in abundance at the south-west entrance or mouth of the Mississippi, and afterwards saw them in the course of the same season, in almost every inlet, bay, or river, as I advanced toward Texas, where I found some of them in the Bay of Galveston, on the Ist of May. Nay, while on the Island of Grande Terre, I was assured by Mr. Anpry, a sugar-planter, who has resided there for some years, that he had observed White Pelicans along the shores every month of the year. Can it be, that in this species of bird, as in many others, barren individuals should remain in sections of countries altogether forsaken by those which are reproductive? The latter, we know, travel to the Rocky Mountains and the Fur Countries of the north, and there breed. Or do some of these birds, as well as of certain species of our Ducks, remain and reproduce in those southern locali- ties, induced to do so by some organic or instinctive peculiarity? Ah, reader, how little do we yet know of the wonderful combinations of Nature’s arrangements, to render every individual of her creation comfortable and happy under all the circumstances in which they may be placed! My friend Jonn BAcuMAn, in a note to me, says that “this bird is now more rare on our coast than it was thirty years ago; for I have heard it stated that it formerly bred on the sand banks of our Bird Islands. I saw a flock on the Bird Banks off Bull’s Island, on the 1st day of July, 1814, when I procured two full-plumaged old birds, and was under the impression that they had laid eggs on one of those banks, but the latter had the day previous to my visit been overflowed by a spring tide, accompanied with heavy wind.’ A single pair of our White Pelicans were procured not far from Phila- delphia, on the Delaware or Schuylkill, ten or twelve years ago, and one or two have been shot on the upper waters of the Hudson. These were the only birds of this kind that, I believe, were ever observed in our Middle Districts, where even the Brown Pelican, Pelecanus fuscus, is never seen. From these facts, it may be concluded that the White Pelicans reach the Fur Countries of Hudson’s Bay by inland journeys, and mostly by passing along our great western rivers in the spring months, as they are also wont to do, though with less rapid movements, in autumn. Reader, I have thought a thousand times perhaps that the present state of migration of many of our birds, is in a manner artificial, and that a portion of the myriads of Ducks, Geese, and other kinds, which leave our Southern Districts every spring for higher latitudes, were formerly in the habit of remaining and breeding in every section of the country that was found to be favourable for that purpose. It seems to me that it is now on account of the difficulties they meet with, from the constantly increasing numbers of our AMERICAN WHITE PELICAN. 93 hostile species, that these creatures are urged to proceed towards wild and uninhabited parts of the world, where they find that security from molesta- tion-necessary to enable them to rear their innocent progeny, but which is now denied them in countries once their own. The White American Pelican never descends from on wing upon its prey, as is the habit of the Brown Pelican; and, although on many occasions it fishes in the manner above described, it varies its mode according to circum- stances, such as a feeling of security, or the accidental meeting with shoals of fishes in such shallows as the birds can well compass. They never dive for their food, but only thrust their head into the waters as far as their neck ean reach, and withdraw it as soon as they have caught something, or have missed it, for their head is seldom out of sight more than half a minute at a time. When they are upon rivers, they usually feed along the margin of the water, though, I believe, mostly in swimming depth, when they proceed with greater celerity than when on the sand. While thus swimming, you see their necks extended, with their upper mandible only above the water, the lower being laterally extended, and ready to receive whatever fish or other food may chance to come into the net-like apparatus attached to it. As this species is often seen along the sea shores searching for food, as well as on fresh water, I will give you a description of its manners there. While on the Island of Barataria in April 1837, I one afternoon observed a number of White Pelicans swimming against the wind and current, with their wings partially extended, and the neck stretched out, the upper man- dible alone appearing above the surface, while the lower must have been used as a scoop-net, as I saw it raised from time to time, and brought to meet the upper, when the whole bill immediately fell to a perpendicular position, the water was allowed to run out, and the bill being again raised upwards, the fish was swallowed. After thus swimming for about a hundred yards in an extended line, and parallel to each other, they would rise on wing, wheel about, and realight at the place where their fishing had commenced, when they would repeat the same actions. I continued watching them more than an hour, concealed among a large quantity of drifted logs, until their fishing was finished, when they all flew off to the lee of another island, no doubt to spend the night there, for these birds are altogether diurnal. When gorged, they retire to the shores, to small islands in bays or rivers, or sit on logs floating in shallow water, at a good distance from the beach; in all which situations they are prone to lie down, or stand closely together. Being anxious, when on my last expedition, to procure several specimens of these birds for the purpose of presenting you with an account of their anatomical structure, I requested all on board our vessel to shoot them on all occasions; but no birds having been procured, I was obliged to set out,with 94 AMERICAN WHITE PELICAN. a “select party”? for the purpose. Having heard some of the sailors say that large flocks of White Pelicans had been seen on the inner islets of Barataria Bay, within the island called Grande Terre, we had a boat manned, and my friend Epwarp Harris, my son, and myself, went off in search of them. After awhile we saw large flocks of these birds on some grounded logs, but found that it was no easy matter to get near them, on account of the shallowness of the bay, the water being scarcely two feet in depth for upwards of half a mile about us. Quietly, and with all possible care, we neared a flock; and strange it was for me to be once more within shooting distance of White Pelicans. It would no doubt be a very interesting sight to you, were you to mark the gravity and sedateness of some hundreds of these Pelicans, closely huddled together on a heap of stranded logs, or a small bank of racoon oysters. ‘They were lying on their breasts, but as we neared them they all arose deliberately to their full height. Some, gently sliding from the logs, swam off towards the nearest flock, as unapprehensive of danger as if they had been a mile distant. But now their bright eyes were distinctly visible to us, our guns, charged with buckshot, were in readi- ness, and my son was lying in the bow of the boat waiting for the signal. “Fire!’?’—The report is instantly heard, the affrighted birds spread their wings and hurry away, leaving behind three of their companions floating on the water. Another shot from a different gun brought down a fourth from on wing; top) soon placed all our prizes in the after sheets. About a quarter of a mile and as a few were scampering off wounded, we gave chase, and farther on, we killed two, and pursued several that were severely wounded in the wing, but they escaped, for they swam off so rapidly that we could not propel our boat with sufficient speed to catch them amidst the tortuous shallows. The Pelicans appeared tame, if not almost stupid; and at one place, where there were about sixty on an immense log, could we have gone twenty yards nearer, we might have killed eight or ten at a single discharge. But we had already a full cargo, and therefore returned to the vessel, on the decks of which the wounded birds were allowed to roam at large. We found these Pelicans hard to kill, and some which were perforated with buckshot did not expire until eight or ten minutes after they were fired at. A won- derful instance of this tenacity of life was to be seen on board a schooner then at anchor in the harbour. A Pelican had been grazed on the hind part of the head with an ounce ball from a musket, and yet five days afterwards it was apparently convalescent, and had become quite gentle. When wounded, they swim rather sluggishly, and do not attempt to dive, or even to bite, like the Brown Pelicans, although they are twice as large, and proportionally stronger. After being shot at, they are perfectly silent, but when alighted they utter a AMERICAN WHITE PELICAN. 95 ow hollow guttural sound somewhat resembling that produced by blowing through the bung-hole of a cask. The White Pelicans appear almost inactive during the greater part of the day, fishing only soon after sunrise, and again about an hour before sunset; though at times the whole flock will mount high in the air, and perform extended gyrations in the manner of the Hooping Crane, Wood Ibis, and Vultures. These movements are probably performed for the purpose of assisting their digestion, and of airing themselves, in the higher and cooler regions of the atmosphere. Whilst on the ground, they at times spread their wings to the breeze, or to the rays of the sun; but this act is much more rarely performed by them than by the Brown Pelicans. When walk- ing, they seem exceedingly awkward, and like many cowardly individuals of our own species, are apt to snap at objects which they appear to know perfectly to be so far superior to them as to disdain taking notice of them. Their usual manner of flight is precisely similar to that of our Brown spe- cies. It is said by authors that the White Pelican can alight on trees; but I have never seen a single instance of its doing so. Iam of opinion that the ridge projecting from the upper mandible increases in size as the bird grows older, and that it uses that apparatus as a means of defence or of attack, when engaged with its rivals in the love-season. The number of small fishes destroyed by a single bird of this species may appear to you, as it did to me, quite extraordinary. While I was at General HeERNANDEZ’s plantation in East Florida, one of them chanced to pass close over the house of my generous host, and was brought dead to the ground. It was not a mature bird, but apparently about eighteen months old. On open- ing it, we found in its stomach several hundreds of fishes, of the size of what are usually called minnows. Among the many which I have at different times examined, I never found one containing fishes as large as those com- monly swallowed by the Brown species, which, in my opinion, is more likely to secure a large fish by plunging upon it from on wing, than a bird which must swim after its prey. This beautiful species,—for, reader, it is truly beautiful, and you would say so were you to pick it up in all the natural cleanness of its plumage, from the surface of the water,—carries its crest broadly expanded, as if divided into two parts from the centre of the head. The brightness of its eyes seemed to me to rival that of the purest diamond; and in the love- season, or the spring of the year, the orange-red colour of its legs and feet, as well as of the pouch and bill, is wonderfully enriched, being as represent- ed in my plate, while during the autumnal months these parts are pale. Its flesh is rank, fishy, and nauseous, and therefore quite unfit for food, unless in cases of extreme necessity. The idea that these birds are easily caught when Vor, Vil. 4 26 AMERICAN WHITE PELICAN. gorged with fish, is quite incorrect, for when approached, on such an ocea- sion, they throw up their food, as Vultures are wont to do. I regret exceedingly that 1 cannot say any thing respecting their nests, eggs, or young, as I have not been in the countries in which they are said to breed. American Wuite Pe.ican, Pelecanus americanus, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. iv. p. 88. Male, 612, 103; bill, 132. Common during winter from Texas to South Carolina, both along the coast and about the lakes and rivers adjoining the Missouri, Mississippi, and Ohio. Breeds from California northward to lat. 61°. Accidental in the Middle Atlantic Districts. Adult Male. Bill a little more than thrice the length of the head, rather slender, almost straight, depressed. Upper mandible linear, depressed, convex at the base, gradually flattened and a little enlarged to near the end, when it again nar- rows, and terminates in a hooked point. The ridge is broad and conyex at the base, becomes gradually narrowed and flattened beyond the middle, is elevated into a thin crest about an inch high, of a fibrous structure, and about three inches in length (in some specimens as much as five inches) which is continued forwards of less elevation to the extent of an inch farther. The ridge of the mandible is then narrow and flat, and terminates in the unguis, which is oblong, slightly carimate above, curved, obtuse, concave beneath. The edges are very sharp and a little involute; the lower surface of the man- dible has a median slender sharp ridge, on each side of which, at the distance of a quarter of an inch, is a stronger ridge having a groove in its whole length; the sides then slope upwards to the incurved margin, and in this latter space is received the edge of the other mandible. Lower mandible having its erura separated, very slender, elastic, and meeting only at the very extremity, so that the angle or interspace may be described as extremely long, occupy- ing in fact the whole length of the bill excepting four-twelfths of an inch at the end; for two-thirds of its length from the base, the lower mandible is broader than the upper, which is owing to the crura lying obliquely, but beyond the crest it is narrower; the extremely short dorsal line ascending, convex, the edges inflected, sharp, and longitudinally grooved. To the lower mandible, in place of the skin or membrane filling up the angle as in most other birds, is appended a vast sac seven inches in depth opposite the base of the bill, and extending down the throat about eight inches, so that its length from the tip of the lower mandible is twenty-one anda half inches. It is formed of the skin, which is thin, transparent, elastic, rugous, highly vas- AMERICAN WHITE PELICAN. 74 cular, and capable of being expanded like a net, supported by the elastic mandibles to the breadth of nine and a half inches. Head small, oblong; neck long, stout; body full, rather flattened. Feet short and very stout; tibia bare at its lower part, covered all round with small scales; tarsus short, very stout, compressed, covered all round with hexagonal scales, of which the anterior are much larger; toes in the same plane, all connected by reticulated webs, the first shortest, the second an inch shorter than the fourth, which is considerably longer than the third, scaly at the base, scutellate over the rest of their extent. Claws short, strong, curved, rather blunt, that of the middle toe with a sharp pectinate inner edge. Feathers of the head and neck exceedingly small, slender, and of a downy texture, those on the fore part of the head a little more compact; on the nape they are elongated, acuminate, and form a longitudinal narrow crest, which runs down the back of the neck. The feathers in general are lanceolate, acuminate, and of moderately dense texture; those at the junction of the neck and breast anteriorly are stiffer and more elongated. Wings very long, rather narrow, rounded; the humerus and cubitus very long in proportion; primaries much curved; secondaries rather narrow, also incurved toward the end, the inner extending when the wing is closed far beyond the tips of the primaries. Tail short, broad, rounded, of twenty-four feathers, which are broad and abruptly acuminate. Bill bare, space about the eye, and feet, rich bright yellow, becoming brighter before their departure for their breeding grounds; claws yellowish- brown; tip of the bill brighter than the rest. Iris white, in younger birds dusky. The general colour of the plumage is pure white; the crest, the elongated feathers on the fore part of the breast, and those near the edge of the cubitus, pale yellow. The alula, primary coverts, and primary quills, black, the shafts white, becoming brownish-black toward the end. The inner ten secondaries are white, the rest. black, more or less tipped with greyish-white, their bases white, that colour more extended on the inner than the outer, the shafts of all the quills white beneath, those of the secondaries tinged with grey. Dimensions of an old male. Length to end of tail 612 inches, to end of wing 612, to end of claws 663, from the point of the bill to the carpal joint 40; extent of wings 103; wing from flexure 244; length of cubitus 15; tail 64; bill along the ridge 133, along the edge of lower mandible 15; breadth of lower mandible at the base 2; bare part of tibia 1; tarsus 4;%; middle toe 4}, its claw $; outer toe 44, its claw 8; inner toe 3, its claw 7g; hind toe 1#, its claw 34. Weight 172 lbs. The Female is rather less, and in as far as I am warranted by the exami- 98 AMERICAN WHITE PELICAN. nation of several individuals in stating, is destitute of the horny crest of the upper mandible. A male, shot near Grande Terre, in the Gulf of Mexico, examined. The skin is very thin, but the subcutaneous cellular tissue is extremely developed, forming a thick reticular layer over the whole body. The internal cells are’ also of vast size, the right hepatic being 43 inches long, the right abdominal 43 by 4; the left abdominal 54 by 4; the clavicular cell is not formed by a single cavity, but of numberless cellules, like those of the subcutaneous tissue. The heart 7 is triangular, pointed, 3 inches long, 2 inches and 10 twelfths in breadth; the aorta branches at the base, as in other birds, sending off the two trunks which separate into the subclavian and carotid. ‘The lobes of the liver are extremely unequal, the right, 0, being 4 inches in length, and 24 in breadth, while the left, p, is only 2 inches long, and 14 inches broad. The mandibles are entirely covered with skin, of which the subcutaneous tissue is wanting, the cutis condensed, and the cuticle in large irregular longitudinal plates, leaving the surface somewhat rough and scaly. The crest-like excrescence on the ridge of the upper mandible is not formed of bone, nor otherwise connected with the osseous surface, which is smooth and continuous beneath it, than by being placed upon it, like any other part of the skin, and when softened by immersion in a liquid may be bent a little to either side. It is composed internally of erect slender plates of a fibrous texture, externally of horny fibres, which are erect on the sides, and Jongi- tudinal on the broadened ridge; these fibres being continuous with the cutis and cuticle. The skin of the mandible is continuous with that of the pouch, of which the structure is as follows: Externally there is a layer of cuticle, beneath which is the cutis, extremely thin, and with the cuticle thrown into longitudinal rugee when contracted. The internal surface is also of cuticle, and beneath it is a layer of cutis. Between these two very thin layers of skin, is interposed an equally thin layer, composed of two sets of very slender muscular fibres, separated from each other, and running in two oppo- site directions. The outer fibres run in fasciculi from the lower and inner edge of the mandible; those from its base pass downwards, those arising more anteriorly pass gradually more forwards, and spreading out, reach the middle line of the pouch. ‘The inner fibres have the same origin, and pass in a con- trary direction, backwards and inwards. From the hyoid bone to the junc- tion of the two crura of the mandible, which takes place almost at the very tip, there extends a thin band of longitudinal muscular fibres, in the centre of which is a cord of elastic tissue. By means of this apparatus, the sac is contracted, so as to occupy little space. When the bill is opened, the crura of the lower mandible separate from each other to a considerable extent, by the action of the muscles inserted into their base, this depending upon their AMERICAN WHITE PELICAN. 29 oblique position, and the sac is expanded. The upper mandible is capable — of being moved to a considerable extent. Below the anterior angle of the eye is a small sac about 5 twelfths of an inch in length, with an external aperture of 2 twelfths, and filled with a pulpy substance. The nostrils are linear, about 3 twelfths of an inch long, and quite concealed by the wrinkles of the skin. The aperture of the posterior nares 8 twelfths. The tongue is an extremely small, papilliform body, 34 twelfths of an inch long, and 1 twelfth in diameter. The aperture of the glottis is linear, 8 twelfths in length, destitute of papille behind. The pharynx is about 24 inches in breadth. The csophagus a, at the commencement, or opposite the tongue, has a diameter of about 6 inches, and contracts until the middle of the neck, where it is 3 inches in width; at its entrance into the thorax at 6 it | contracts to 14 inches, but is dilatable hy to 3 inches; at this part, its inner Py coat is thrown into very prominent longitudinal ruge. The structure of the cesophagus is similar to that of the Loon already described, but its muscular coat is much thinner. On SS SSS entering the thorax, it again expands to a diameter of 3 inches. Its length from the glottis, exclusive of the pro- ventriculus, is 2 feet. The proven- triculus, ec d, when not extended, has a diameter of 2 inches, its length being 4 inches and 8 twelfths. It is marked internally with six longitu- dinal broad ridges, about half an inch in breadth, and separated by grooves; and its cuticular lining is 14 twelfths thick, of a compact but soft texture, elevated into tortuous reticulated ridges. The glandules, which are cylindrical, the largest 3 twelfths of an inch long, 4 twelfth in diameter, form a complete elongated belt. The muscular coat is also very thick, its inner layer composed of transverse, its outer of longitudinal fibres, and the greatest thickness of the walls of 30 AMERICAN WHITE PELICAN. the proventriculus is about 43 twelfths of an inch. The stomach, e, pro- perly so called, is extremely small, being of a roundish, compressed form, 14 inches in length, and of the same breadth; its muscular coat composed of slender fasciculi, and not presenting a distinction into lateral and inferior muscles, its inner coat smooth. Appended to it on the right side is a sac /; of a roundish form, 1,% inches in length, and 13 in breadth, joining it by a contraction, of which the diameter is 4 inch, and opening directly into the proventriculus, as well as into the stomach; its walls thin, its inner surface smooth, with numerous mucous crypts irregularly disposed. ‘The pylorus, g, is exceedingly small, 1} twelfths in diameter, with a thickened margin. The duodenum g, h, 7, passes backwards and upwards to the length of 64 inches, returns upon itself enclosing the pancreas, receives the biliary ducts at the distance of 14 inches from the pylorus. The gall-bladder is oblong, 2 inches long, and 10 twelfths broad. The intestine then forms numerous convolutions, 7, #, 7, occupying the whole abdomen, and lying in part over the stomach and proventriculus. Its entire length is 10 feet 10 inches. Its diameter varies little, it being at the upper part 5 twelfths of an inch, towards the rectum 33 twelfths. The rectum is 54 inches long, including the cloaca, m, which is globular, and about 24 inches in diameter. The coeca are 1 inch and 1 twelfth in length, 4 twelfths in diameter, cylindrical, rounded at the end. The muscular coat of the intestine is very strong, the inner villous. One of the testes is 1 inch long, the other 14; their form oblong. In the proventriculus and stomach is a vast accumulation of small lumbrici, about 14 inches in length, and amounting to about 1000. The trachea is 1 foot 10 inches long, a little flattened, $ inch in diameter throughout, but a little narrower about the middle; the rings 160, not ossi- fied, excepting the lower. The contractor muscles are very small; as are the sterno-tracheal; and the inferior larynx is destitute of muscles. The bronchi are large, 5 twelfths in diameter, of 25 half rings. The upper mandible is hollow in its whole extent; but the lateral spaces intervening between the edges of the median bone or ridge and the margins, are filled with a beautiful net-work of bony spicule. The two superior maxillary branches of the fifth pair of nerves, which are very large, being about 1 twelfth of an inch in diameter at the base, run close together along the median line, sending off branches at intervals, and extending to the end of the mandible. The lower mandible is also hollow, and similarly reticu- lated. The inferior maxillary branch, haying entered on the inner side at the base, runs in like manner along its whole length, and is of the same thickness; by an aperture on the outer side near the base, it sends off a branch almost as thick, which runs within the membrane of the gular sac, AMERICAN WHITE PELICAN. 31 parallel to the mandible, and about half an inch distant from it, sending off branches at intervals. The sac is plentifully supplied with blood-vessels. The nasal cavity is of an oblong form, 1 inch and 5 twelfths in length, passing obliquely backwards and upwards from the aperture of the posterior nares, and opening externally by curving forwards; its greatest diameter 5 twelfths, in its lower third 3 twelfths, and so continuing until it expands into the inferior slit-like aperture, which is 8 twelfths long. The cavity of the nose is thus small, and the olfactory nerve, which passes out from the anterior part of the brain, is a slender filament, about 4 of a twelfth in diameter. It runs at first through a bony tube, then passes along the bony septum of the orbits, in contact for a short space with the superior maxillary nerve of the fifth pair, which at its commencement makes a great curve upwards, and crosses the orbit to enter the maxillary cavity, which has no com- \e A \. | ah AN \\ If ay NY ) \ - N\A \\ () \ \, \ \ N munication with the olfac- tory. Fig. 2 represents the sternum viewed from be- fore. It ‘is remarkable chiefly for its great breadth and convexity. Its sides, a, b, c, d, are nearly pa- rallel; its posterior margin broad, with two shallow notches, e, f, separated by a short conical obtuse me- dian process. The crest or ridge, A, 7, is carried for- ward in front, where it is a i il D. ‘ a NUT \ \\ KN only, however, of moderate height, and is not continued to the posterior extremity, but terminates at z, in the most convex part. The coracoid bones, 7, 7, are ex- tremely large, very broad at their lower part, and having a deep groove and thin elongated process, J, at the upper for the tendon of the pectoralis medius, 39 THE BROWN PELICAN. which raises the wing. The furcula, &, &, 7, is anchylosed with the crest of the sternum, at A, has its crura moderately stout and much diverging, and its upper extremity very broad and recurvate. The scapula, of which only the anterior process 7#, 7, is seen, is small. A sternal apparatus like this indicates a steady and powerful flight, the wings being supported upon a very firm basis, and well separated. The great mass of the pectoral muscle being thrown forward, it acts more directly than in such birds as the Gallinz and Ducks, in which it is placed farther backwards, and although its bulk is | not so great as in them, it is more advantageously situated. The sternal apparatus of this Pelican is thus extremely similar to that of the Cormorant, and the American Anhinga, and is also constructed on the same plan as that of the Gannets, although in the latter its body is more elongated. THE BROWN PELICAN. + PELEcANus Fuscus, Linn. PLATE CCCCXXIII.—Marte. PLATE CCCCXXIV.—Youne. The Brown Pelican, which is one of the most interesting of our American birds, is a constant resident in the Floridas, where it resorts to the Keys and - the salt-water inlets, but never enters fresh-water streams, as the White Pelican is wont to do. It is rarely seen farther eastward than Cape Hatteras, but is found to the south far beyond the limits of the United States. Within the recollection of persons still living, its numbers have been considerably reduced, so much indeed that in the inner Bay of Charleston, where twenty or thirty years ago it was quite abundant, very few individuals are now seen, and these chiefly during a continuance of tempestuous weather. There is a naked bar, a few miles distant from the main land, between Charleston and the mouth of the Santee, on which my friend Jonny BacuMAN some years ago saw a great number of these birds, of which he procured several; but at the present day, few are known to breed farther east than the salt-water inlets running parallel to the coast of Florida, forty or fifty miles south of St. Augustine, where I for the first time met with this Pelican in consider- able numbers. N°85. oe P1423. WHA EE Ps Vo Sees 4 LPCIUP LACLCEEM. Sdult Male . ‘ os Drawn trom Naiure br7/ fudeed rae Y Lith Printed Gl" by JT. Bowen, Pvtadelpia Drawn bom Nature by FI dudibon, HRS FAS (ged GY Cc Fido OPE ie COULD OL houng Sst Minter WV ROE Ale PAT. WOMEN, TIMER © THE BROWN PELICAN. 93 My friend Joun Buxtow, Esq. took me in his barge to visit the Halifax, which is a large inlet, and on which we soon reached an island where the Brown Pelicans had bred for a number of years, but where, to my great dis- appointment, none were then to be seen. The next morning, being ten or twelve miles farther down the stream, we entered another inlet, where I saw several dozens of these birds perched on the mangroves, and apparently sound asleep. I shot at them from a very short distance, and with my first barrel brought two to the water, but although many of them still remained looking at us, I could not send the contents of my second barrel to them, as the shot had unluckily been introduced into it before the powder. They all flew off one after another, and still worse, as the servants approached those which had fallen upon the water, they also flew away. On arriving at the Keys of Florida, on board the Marion Revenue Cutter, I found the Pelicans pretty numerous. They became more abundant the farther south we proceeded, and I procured specimens at different places, but nowhere so many as at Key West. There you would see them flying within pistol-shot of the wharfs, the boys frequently trying to knock them down with stones, although I believe they rarely succeed in their efforts. The Marion lay at anchor several days at a short distance from this island, and close to another. Scarcely an hour of daylight passed without our having Pelicans around us, all engaged at their ordinary occupations, some fishing, some slumbering as it were on the bosom of the ocean, or on the branches of the mangroves. This place and all around for about forty miles, seemed to be favourite resorts of these birds; and as I had excellent opportunities of observing their habits, I consider myself qualified to present you with some account of them. The flight of the Brown Pelican, though to appearance heavy, is remark- ably well sustained, that bird being able not only to remain many hours at a time on wing, but also to mount to a great height in the air to perform its beautiful evolutions. Their ordinary manner of proceeding, either when single or in flocks, is by easy flappings and sailings alternating at distances of from twenty to thirty yards, when they glide along with great speed. They move in an undulated line, passing at one time high, at another low, over the water or land, for they do not deviate from their course on coming upon a key or a point of land. When the waves run high, you may see them “troughing,”’ as the sailors say, or directing their course along the hollows. While on wing they draw in their head between their shoulders, stretch out their broad webbed feet to their whole extent, and proceed in perfect silence. When the weather is calm, and a flood of light and heat is poured down upon nature by the genial sun, they are often, especially during the love Vor, VIL. 5 34 THE BROWN PELICAN. season, seen rising in broad circles, flock after flock, until they attain a height of perhaps a mile, when they gracefully glide on constantly expanded wings, and course round each other, for an hour or more at a time, after which, in curious zigzags, and with remarkable velocity, they descend towards their beloved element, and settle on the water, on large sand-bars or on mangroves. It is interesting beyond description to observe flocks of Brown Pelicans thus going through their aérial evolutions. Now, reader, look at those birds standing on their strong legs, on that burning sand-bar. How dexterously do they wield that great bill of theirs, as they trim their plumage! Now along each broad quill it passes, drawing it out and displaying its elasticity; and now with necks stretched to their full length, and heads elevated, they direct its point in search of the insects that are concealed along their necks and breasts. Now they droop their wings for awhile, or stretch them alternately to their full extent; some slowly lie down on the sand, others remain standing, quietly draw their head over their broad shoulders, raise one of their feet, and placing their bill on their back, compose themselves to rest. There let them repose in peace. Had they alighted on the waters, you might have seen them, like a fleet at anchor, riding on the ever-rolling billows as unconcernedly as if on shore. Had they perched on yon mangroves, they would have laid themselves flat on the branches, or spread their wings to the sun or the breeze, as Vultures are wont to do. But see, the tide is advancing; the billows chase each other towards the shores; the mullets joyful and keen leap along the surface, as they fill the bays with their multitudes. The slumbers of the Pelicans are over; the drowsy birds shake their heads, stretch open their mandibles and pouch by way of yawning, expand their ample wings, and simultaneously soar away. Look at them as they fly over the bay; listen to the sound of the splash they make as they drive their open bills, like a pock-net, into the sea, to scoop up their prey; mark how they follow that shoal of porpoises, and snatch up the frightened fishes that strive to escape from them. Down they go, again and again. What voracious creatures they are! The Brown Pelicans are as well aware of the time of each return of the tide, as the most watchful pilots. Though but a short time before they have been sound asleep, yet without bell or other warning, they suddenly open their eyelids, and all leave their roosts, the instant when the waters, which have themselves reposed for awhile, resume their motion. The Pelicans possess a knowledge beyond this, and in a degree much surpassing that of man with reference to the same subject: they can judge with certainty of the changes of weather. Should you see them fishing all together, in retired bays, be assured, that a storm will burst forth that day; but if they pursue THE BROWN PELICAN. 35 their finny prey far out at sea, the weather will be fine, and you also may launch your bark and go to the fishing. Indeed, most sea-birds possess the same kind of knowledge, as I have assured myself by repeated observation, in a degree corresponding to their necessities; and the best of all prognos- ticators of the weather, are the Wild Goose, the Gannet, the Lestris, and the Pelican. This species procures its food on wing, and in a manner quite different from that of the White Pelican. A flock will leave their resting place, proceed over the waters in search of fish, and when a shoal is perceived, separate at once, when each, from an elevation of from fifteen to twenty-five feet, plunges in an oblique and somewhat winding direction, spreading to the full stretch its lower mandible and pouch, as it reaches the water, and sud- denly scoops up the object of its pursuit, immersing the head and neck, and sometimes the body, for an instant. It immediately swallows its prey, rises on wing, dashes on another fish, seizes and devours it, and thus continues, sometimes plunging eight or ten times in a few minutes, and always with unerring aim. When gorged, it rests on the water for awhile, but if it has a brood, or a mate sitting on her eggs, it flies off at once towards them, no matter how heavily laden it may be. The generally received idea that Pelicans keep fish or water in their pouch, to convey them to their young, is quite erroneous. ‘The water which enters the pouch when it is immersed, is immediately forced out between the partially closed mandibles, and the fish, unless larger than those on which they usually feed, is instantly swal- lowed, to be afterwards disgorged for the benefit of the young, either par- tially macerated, or whole, according to the age and size of the latter. Of all this I have satisfied myself, when within less than twenty yards of the birds as they were fishing; and I never saw them fly without the pouch being closely contracted towards the lower mandible. Indeed, although I now much regret that I did not make the experiment when I had the means of doing so, I doubt very much if a Pelican could fly at all with its burden so much out of trim, as a sailor would say. They at times follow the porpoise, when that animal is in pursuit of prey, and as the fishes rise from the deep water towards the surface, come in cun- ningly for their share, falling upon the frightened shoal, and seizing one or more, which they instantly gobble up. But one of the most curious traits of the Pelican is, that it acts unwittingly as a sort of purveyor to the Gulls just as the Porpoise acts towards itself. The Black-headed Gull of Witson, which is abundant along the coast of the Floridas in spring and summer, watches the motions of the Pelicans. The latter having plunged after a shoal of small fishes, of which it has caught a number at a time, in letting off the water from amongst them, sometimes allows a few to escape; but the 26 THE BROWN PELICAN. Gull at that instant alights on the bill of the Pelican, or on its head, and seizes the fry at the moment they were perhaps congratulating themselves on their escape. This every body on board the Marion observed as well as myself, while that vessel was at anchor in the beautiful harbour of Key West. To me such sights were always highly interesting, and I doubt if in the course of my endeavours to amuse you, I ever felt greater pleasure than I do at this moment, when, with my journal at my side, and the Gulls and Pelicans in my mind’s eye as distinctly as I could wish, I ponder on the faculties which Nature has bestowed on animals which we merely consider as possessed of instinct. How little do we yet know of the operations of the Divine Power! On the occasions just mentioned, the Pelicans did not manifest the least anger towards the Gulls. On the ground this species is by no means so active, for it walks heavily, and when running, which it now and then does while in play, or during courtship, it looks extremely awkward, as it then stretches out its neck, partially extends its wings, and reels so that one might imagine it ready to fall at each step. If approached when wounded and on the water, it swims off with speed, and when overtaken, it suddenly turns about, opens its large bill, snaps it violently several times in succession, causing it to emit a smart noise in the manner of owls, strikes at you, and bites very severely. While I was at Mr. Butow’s, his Negro hunter waded after one whose wing had been broken. The Pelican could not be seized without danger, and I was surprised to see the hunter draw his butcher’s knife, strike the long blade through the open pouch of the bird, hook it, as it were, by the lower man- dible, and at one jerk swing it up into the air with extreme dexterity, after which he broke its neck and dragged it ashore. The pouch measures from six to ten inches in depth, according to the age of the bird after the first moult. The superb male whose portrait is before you, and which was selected from among a great number, had it about the last mentioned size, and capable of holding a gallon of water, were the man- dibles kept horizontal. This membrane is dried and used for keeping snuff, gunpowder and shot. When fresh it may be extended so as to become quite thin and transparent, like a bladder. This Pelican seldom seizes fish that are longer than its bill, and the size of those on which it ordinarily feeds is much smaller. Indeed, several which I examined, had in the stomach upwards of a hundred fishes, which were only from two to three inches in length. That organ is long, slender, and rather fleshy. In some I found a great number of live blue-coloured worms, measuring two and a half inches in length, and about the thickness of a Crow- quill. The gut is about the size of a Swan’s quill, and from ten to twelve feet in length, according to the age of the individual. THE BROWN PELICAN. 37 At all periods the Brown Pelican keeps in flocks, seldom amounting to more than fifty or sixty individuals of both sexes, and of different ages. At the approach of the pairing time, or about the middle of April, the old males and females separate from the rest, and remove to the inner keys or to large estuaries, well furnished with mangroves of goodly size. The young birds, which are more numerous, remain along the shores of the open sea, unless during heavy gales. Now let us watch the full grown birds. Some skirmishes have taken place, and the stronger males, by dint of loud snappings of their bill, some hard tugs of the neck and head, and some heavy beats with their wings, have driven away the weaker, which content themselves with less prized belles. The females, although quiet and gentle on ordinary occasions, are more courageous than the males, who, however, are assiduous in their attentions, assist in forming the nest, feed their mates while sitting, and even share the labour of incubation with them. Now see the mated birds, like the citizens of a newly laid out town in some part of our western country, breaking the dry sticks from the trees, and conveying them in their bills to yon mangrove isle. You see they place all their mansions on the south-west side, as if to enjoy the benefit of all the heat of that sultry climate. Myriads of mosqui- toes buzz around them, and alight on the naked parts of their body, but this seems to give them no concern. Stick after stick is laid, one crossing another, until a strong platform is constructed. Now roots and withered plants are brought, with which a basin is formed for the eggs. Nota nest, you observe, is placed very low; the birds prefer the tops of the mangroves, although they do not care how many nests are on one tree, or how near the trees are to each other. The eggs, of which there are never more than three, are rather elliptical, and average three inches and one-eighth in length, by two inches and one-eighth in their greatest breadth. The shell is thick and rather rough, of a pure white colour, with a few faint streaks of a rosy tint, and blotches of a very pale hue, from the centre towards the crown of the egg. The young are at first covered with cream-coloured down, and have the bill and feet disproportionately large. They are fed with great care, and so abundantly, that the refuse of their food, putrid and disgusting, lies in great quantities round them; but neither young nor old regard this, however offen- sive it may be to you. As the former grow the latter bring larger fish to them. At first the food is dropped in a well macerated state into their extended throats; afterwards the fish is given to them entire; and finally the parent birds merely place it on the edge of the nest. The young increase in size at a surprising rate. When half fledged they seem a mere mass of fat, their partially indurated bill has acquired considerable length, their 38 THE BROWN PELICAN. wings droop by their sides, and they would be utterly unable to walk. The Vultures at this period often fall upon them and devour them in the absence of their parents. The Indians also carry them off in considerable numbers; and farther eastward, on the Halifax river, for instance, the Negroes kill all they can find, to make gumbo soup of them during winter. The Crows, less powerful, but quite as cunning, suck the eggs; and many a young one which has accidentally fallen from the nest, is sure to be picked up by some quadruped, or devoured by the Shark or Balacuda. When extensive depre- dations have thus been made, the birds abandon their breeding places, and do not return to them. The Pelicans in fact are, year after year, retiring from the vicinity of man, and although they afford but very unsavoury food at © any period of their lives, will yet be hunted beyond the range of civiliza- tion, just as our best of all game, the Wild Turkey, is now, until to meet with them the student of nature will have to sail round Terra del Fuego, while he may be obliged to travel to the Rocky Mountains before he find the other bird. Should you approach a settlement of the Pelicans and fire afew shots at them, they all abandon the place, and leave their eggs or young entirely at your disposal. At all seasons, the Negroes of the plantations on the eastern coast of the Floridas lie in wait for the Pelicans. There, observe that fellow, who, with rusty musket, containing a tremendous charge of heavy shot, is concealed among the palmettoes, on the brink of a kind of embankment formed by the shelly sand. Now comes a flock of Pelicans, forcing their way against the breeze, unaware of the danger into which they rush, for there, a few yards apart, several Negroes crouch in readiness to fire; and let me tell you, good shots they are. Now a blast forces the birds along the shore; off goes the first gun, and down comes a Pelican; shot succeeds shot; and now the Negroes run up to gather the spoil. They skin the birds like so many racoons, cut off the head, wings~and feet; and should you come this way next year, you may find these remains bleached in the sun. Towards night, the sable hunters carry off their booty, marching along in Indian file, and filling the air with their extemporaneous songs. At home they perhaps salt, or perhaps smoke them; but in whatever way the Pelicans are prepared, they are esteemed good food by the sons of Africa. The Brown Pelican is a strong and tough bird, although not so weighty as the white species. Its flesh is, in my opinion, always impure. It seems never satisfied with food, and it mutes so profusely, that not a spot of ver- dure can be seen on the originally glossy and deep-coloured mangroves on which it nestles; and I must say that, much as I admire it in some respects, I should be sorry to keep it near me as a pet. During winter, when the mullet, a favourite fish with the Brown Pelican, THE BROWN PELICAN. 39 as it is with me, retires into deeper water, these birds advance farther to sea- ward, and may be seen over all parts of the Gulf of Mexico, and between the Florida Reefs-and the opposite isles, especially during fine weather. They are yery sensible to cold, and in this respect are tender birds. . Now and then, at this season, they are seen on Lake Borgne and over Lake Pontchar- train, but never on the Mississippi beyond the rise of the tides, the space higher up being abandoned to the White Pelican. The keenness of their sight is probably equal to that of any Hawk, and their hearing is also very acute. They are extremely silent birds, but when excited they utter a loud and rough grunt, which is far from musical. Several persons in the Floridas assured me that the Brown Pelicans breed at all seasons of the year; but as I observed nothing to countenance such an idea, I would give it as my opinion that they raise only one brood in the season. Their bodies are greatly inflated by large air-cells; their bones, though strong, are very light; and they are tough to kill. Since I wrote my account of the habits of this very interesting bird, I have followed it westward as far as the inland bays of the Texas, where I found it almost as abundant as on the coast of the Floridas. In the former country however, I observed it breeding on the ground, and on the small naked islets of the large bays margining the Mexican Gulf. The nests were formed much in the same manner as when placed on trees, and the eggs were of the same number as stated. Having examined several specimens procured on the nest, in the act of incubation, I found that the plumage of the fully adult female is precisely like that of the male; and I am now con- vinced that birds of both sexes are several years in acquiring their full plumage, although the precise number of years is what I have not yet learned. Some additional observations respecting the habits of this species may now be stated. During a severe gale, on the 7th of April, 1836, the wind coming from the north-west, I saw a flock of about thirty of these birds flying only a few feet above the water, and against the gale. Having proceeded a few yards, they plunged into the water, generally to leeward, and threw their bodies round as soon as their bills were immersed, giving a very curious appearance to the wings, which seemed as if locked. On seizing a fish they kept the bill beneath the surface for a short time in a perpendicular direction, and drew it up gradually, when the water was seen to flow out, after which they raised the bill to an horizontal position, and swallowed the fish. In this way the whole flock kept dashing and plunging pell-mell, like Gannets, over a space of about one hundred yards, fishing at times in the very surf, and where the water could not be more than a very few feet deep. Each of them must haye caught upwards of a score of fishes. As soon as they were 40 THE BROWN PELICAN. satisfied, they flew in a line across the channel, and landed on low banks under the lee of the island, opposite our harbour. During all the time of their fishing they were attended by a number of Black-headed Gulls, Larus Atricilla, which followed all their movements, alighting on their heads, and feeding as I have already described. These Gulls followed their purveyors to the same low banks to spend the night. Notwithstanding all that has been said to the contrary by some European writers, I feel perfectly satisfied that these Pelicans must make ample use of some oily matter contained in the uropygial gland, as their plumage is always dry in the midst of their continued plungings. On the 14th of the same month, my party happened to shoot a good number of Brown Pelicans, among which was one slightly wounded in the body. The sailors tied its bill with a piece of rope-yarn, and placed it in the stern of the boat; but while they were again charging their muskets, the bird recovered sufficiently to take to its wings, clear the boat, and fly off. In such a condition it must necessarily have perished of hunger. PELECANUS FuscUs, Bonap. Syn., p. 401. Brown Petican, Nutt. Man., vol. ii. p. 476. Brown Peuican, Pelecanus fuscus, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. iii. p. 376; vol. v. p. 212. Adult, 52, 80. Very abundant and constantly resident from Texas along the shores east- ward to North Carolina. Breeds on trees and also on the ground; eggs three. Adult Male. Bill more than twice the length of the head, rather stout, straight, de- pressed towards the end. Upper mandible with the dorsal line straight as far as the unguis, the ridge broad and convex, separated from the side by a groove on each side, broader and more convex at the base, narrowed and flattened towards the unguis, which is curved, stout, convex above, sharp- edged, acute; sides of the bill perpendicular at the base, narrowed towards the middle, widened and approaching to horizontal towards the end; edges sharp, with a broad furrowed groove beneath for the reception of those of the lower mandible. Lower mandible with the angle extending to less than half an inch from the tip, and filled by a bare membrane, the sides nearly erect and convex, the edges sharp, the tip compressed, deflected, obtuse. The membrane of the lower mandible extends down the fore neck in the form of a wrinkled pouch. Head of moderate size, oblong; neck long, stout; body rather slender. Feet short, stout, nearly central; tibia bare, its lower part covered all round with small scales; tarsus short, stout, compressed, covered all round with THE BROWN PELICAN. 41 hexagonal scales, of which the anterior are much larger; toes in the same plane, all connected by reticulated webs, the first shortest, the third and fourth nearly equal, reticulate at the base, scutellate along the rest of the upper surface, claws short, strong, curved, rather acute, that of hind toe with a sharp pectinate inner edge. Feathers of the head and neck exceedingly small and slender, of the fore part of the head stiff, hair-like and glossy; of the upper middle part of the neck behind a little larger and soft, forming a slight longitudinal crest; of the sides and hind part of the neck soft and downy. The feathers of the upper parts in general are remarkably small, narrow, tapering to a point; of the lower part of the neck stiff and pointed, of the breast and sides some- what larger than those above, and softer. Wings long, rounded; primaries much curved, with strong square shafts; the second longest, the third very little shorter, the first a little longer than the fifth, secondaries very nume- rous, rather small, rounded, the inner longer and more tapering. ‘Tail short, slightly rounded, of twenty-two feathers. Bill greyish-white, tinged with brown, and marked with irregular spots of pale carmine; upper mandible dusky towards the end, lower blackish from the middle to near the end. Bare space between the bill and the eye deep blue; eyelids pink; iris white. Feet black. The gular pouch is greenish-black, the ridges of its wrinkles lighter.. The hair-like feathers on the fore part of the head light yellow, the rest of the head white; a stripe of the same margining the pouch to the middle of the neck, and extending a little beyond, a short space between these two lines anteriorly, and the whole of the posterior and lateral parts of the neck of a dark chestnut-brown, the small crest paler. The back and wings are dusky, each feather with the central part greyish-white; the latter colour prevails on the scapulars and larger wing-coverts. Primaries and their coverts brownish-black, seconda- ries greyish-brown, their outer edges greyish-white; tail light grey; the shafts of the quills and tail-feathers are white in their basal half, black towards the end. The lower parts are brownish-grey; the sides of the neck and body with narrow longitudinal white lines. On the fore neck, below the dark chestnut spot is a smaller pale yellow mark, behind which the feathers for a short space are blackish-brown. Length to end of tail 52 inches, to end of wings 52, to end of claws 534; extent of wings 80; bill along the ridge 134, along the edge of lower man- dible 144; depth of gular pouch 10, its extent along the neck 13; wing from flexure 24; tail 7; tarsus 24; middle toe 314, its claw Weight 6 lbs. 4k O72. aul 12° The Female, which is considerably larger, resembles the male in colour, Vou. VIL. 6 42 THE BROWN PELICAN. only that the neck is yellowish-white in its whole extent, without any brown, and its feathers are stiff and not downy as in the male. Weight 7 lbs. 12 oz. Young. Bill greyish-blue, its edges and unguis greyish-yellow; gular pouch dull greyish-blue. Iris brownish-yellow; bare space around the eye of a dusky _ bluish tint, the feathers margining it yellowish-white. The feathers of the ~ head and neck are less downy than in the adult, and those on the sides of the latter less elongated or pointed. The head and neck are dark brown, as are the upper parts generally; the secondary and many of the smaller coverts margined with pale brown; the primaries and their coverts as well as the tail-coverts brownish-black, with white shafts. Feet and claws dull leaden colour. In an adult female preserved in spirits the general peculiarities of the organization are the same as those described in the American White Pelican. Tue MANGROVE. Ruizopuora Manate, Linn., Syst. Nat., vol. ii. p. 325. The species of mangrove represented in the plate is very abundant along the coast of Florida and on almost all the Keys, excepting the Tortugas. Those islands which are named Wet Keys are entirely formed of mangroves, which, raising their crooked and slender stems from a bed of mud, continue to increase until their roots and pendent branches afford shelter to the accu- mulating debris, when the earth is gradually raised above the surface of the water. No sooner has this taken place than the mangroves in the central part of the island begin to decay, and in the course of time there is only an outer fringe or fence of trees, while the interior becomes overgrown with grass and low bushes. Meantime the mangroves extend towards the sea, their hanging branches taking root wherever they come in contact with the bottom, and their seeds also springing up. Iam ata loss for an object with which to compare these trees, in order to afford you an idea of them; yet if you will figure to yourself a tree reversed, and standing on its summit, you may obtain a tolerable notion of their figure and mode of growth. The stem, roots and branches are very tough and stubborn, and in some places the trees are so intertwined that a person might find it as easy to crawl over them as to make his way between them. They are evergreen, and their tops afford a place of resort to various species of birds at all seasons, while their roots and submersed branches give shelter to numberless testaceous mollusca and small fishes. The species represented is rarely observed on the coast of THE BROWN PELICAN. 43 Florida of a greater height than twenty-five or thirty feet, and its average height is not above fifteen feet. The land mangrove, of which I have seen only a few, the finest of which were on Key West, is a tall tree, much larger and better shaped than the other, with narrower leaves and shorter fruits. Genus V.—SULA, Briss. GANNETT. Bill longer than the head, opening beyond the eyes, straight, elongated, conical, moderately compressed; upper mandible with the dorsal line straight and declinate, at the end convex and a little decurved; the ridge very broad, convex, with a slight median carina, and separated on each side from the sides, which are perpendicular, slightly convex, and have an additional nar- row-jointed piece below the eye; edges sharp, direct, irregularly serrate, with numerous slender cuts directed backwards, tip compressed, a little decurved, rather acute; lower mandible with the angle extremely long and narrow, the dorsal line straight, ascending, the sides erect, convex, the edges sharp and serrated, the tip compressed, acute. No external nostrils. Head large, neck of moderate length, and very thick; body of moderate bulk, rather elon- gated. Feet short, strong, placed rather far behind; tibize concealed; tarsus very short, rounded before, sharp behind, scaly, with three lines of small transversely oblong scutella, which run down the toes, the latter long and slender, all united by membranes having their margins straight; first toe rather small, directed inwards and forwards; middle toe longest, the outer almost equal. Claws of moderate size, slightly arched, that of the third toe pectinate. Plumage generally close, rather compact, on the head and neck blended. Wings very long, narrow, acute; first quill longest. Tail rather long, cuneate, of twelve or fourteen feathers. Gular sac small, with a small median portion bare; tongue extremely small, blunt; cesophagus extremely wide; proventricular glands forming a broad belt partially divided by in- tervals; stomach extremely small, its muscular coat thin, the inner soft; intestine of moderate length, slender; coeca very small; cloaca globular. 44 COMMON GANNETT. SULA BASSANA, Linn. PLATE CCCCXXV.—Aputtr Mate anp Younc. On the morning of the 14th of June, 1833, the white sails of the Ripley were spread before a propitious breeze, and onward she might be seen gaily wending her way toward the shores of Labrador. We had well explored the Magdalene Islands, and were anxious to visit the Great Gannet Rock, where, according to our pilot, the birds from which it derives its name breed. For several days I had observed numerous files proceeding northward, and marked their mode of flight while thus travelling. As our bark dashed through the heaving billows, my anxiety to reach the desired spot increased. At length, about ten o’clock, we discerned at a distance a white speck, which our pilot assured us was the celebrated rock of our wishes. After awhile I could distinctly see its top from the deck, and thought that it was still covered with snow several feet deep. As we approached it, I imagined that the atmosphere around was filled with flakes, but on my turning to the pilot, who smiled at my simplicity, I was assured that nothing was in sight but the Gannets and their island home. I rubbed my eyes, took up my glass, and saw that the strange dimness of the air before us was caused by the innu- merable birds, whose white bodies and black-tipped pinions produced a blended tint of light grey. When we had advanced to within half a mile, this magnificent veil of floating Gannets was easily seen, now shooting upwards, as if intent on reaching the sky, then descending as if to join the feathered masses below, and again diverging toward either side and sweeping over the surface of the ocean. The Ripley now partially furled her sails, and lay to, when all on board were eager to scale the abrupt sides of the mountain isle, and satisfy their curiosity. Judge, reader, of our disappointment. The weather, which hitherto had been beautiful, suddenly changed, and we were assailed by a fearful storm. However, the whale-boat was hoisted over, and manned by four sturdy “down-easters,’’ along with THomas LincoLtn and my son. I remained on board the Ripley, and commenced my distant observations, which I shall relate in due time. An hour has elapsed; the boat, which had been-hid from our sight, is now PLA 5. ? e “ ( (C ( Z "YP OA AC OLE. VALE, - ee 7, Adilé rile. & Veurtg VUNASVOM NAM COA J AUUMbOWH LHR SS LS. ‘ : ‘7 LUMP POCA COENEN TBO PRAEY COMMON GANNET. A5 in view; » waves run high, and all around looks dismal. See what exer-_ tions the rowers make; it blows a hurricane, and each successive billow seems destined. to overwhelm their fragile bark. My anxiety is intense, as you may imagine; in the midst of my friends and the crew I watch every move- ment of the boat, now balanced on the very crest of a rolling and foaming waye, now sunk far into the deep trough. We see how eagerly yet calmly they pull. My son stands erect, steering with a long oar, and Lincoxn is bailing the water which is gaining on him, for the spray ever and anon dashes over the bow. But they draw near, a rope is thrown and caught, the whale-boat is hauled close under our lee-board; in a moment more all are safe on deck, the helm round, the schooner to, and away under bare poles she scuds toward Labrador. Tuomas Lincotn and my son were much exhausted, and the sailors required a double allowance of grog. A quantity of eggs of various kinds, and several birds, had been procured, for wherever sufficient room for a Gannet’s nest was not afforded on the rock, one or two Guillemots occupied the spot, and on the ledges below, the Kittiwakes lay thick like snow-flakes. The discharging of their guns produced no other effect than to cause the birds killed or severely wounded to fall into the water, for the cries of the countless multitudes drowned every other noise. The party had their clothes smeared with the nauseous excrements of hundreds of Gannets and other birds, which in shooting off from their nests caused numerous eggs to fall, of which some were procured entire. The confusion on and around the rock was represented as baffling all description; and as we gazed on the mass now gradually fading on our sight, we all judged it well worth the while to cross the ocean to see sucha sight. But yet it was in some measure a painful sight to me, for I had not been able to land on this great breeding-place, of which, however, I here present a description given by our pilot Mr. GopwIn. “The top of the main rock is a quarter of a mile wide, from north to south, but narrower in the other direction. Its elevation is estimated at about four hundred feet. It stands in lat. 47° 52'. The surf beats its base with great violence, unless after a long calm, and it is extremely difficult to land upon it, and still more so to ascend to the top or platform. The only point on which a boat may be landed lies on the south side, and the moment the boat strikes it must be hauled dry on the rocks. The whole surface of the upper platform is closely covered with nests, placed about two feet asunder, and in such regular order that a person may see between the lines, which run north and south, as if looking along the furrows of a deeply ploughed field. The Labrador fishermen and others who annually visit this extraordi- nary resort of the Gannets, for the purpose of procuring their flesh to bait AG COMMON GANNET. their cod-fish hooks, ascend armed with heavy short clubs, Pe parties of eight, ten, or more, and at once begin their work of destruction. At sight of these unwelcome intruders, the affrighted birds rise on wing with a noise like thunder, and fly off in such a hurried and confused manner as to impede each other’s progress, by which thousands are forced downwards, and accu- mulate into a bank many feet high; the men beating and killing them with their clubs until fatigued, or satisfied with the number they have slain.’ Here Mr. Gopwtn assured us that he had visited the Gannet Rock ten sea- sons in succession, for the purpose just mentioned, and added, that on one of these occasions, “six men had destroyed five hundred and forty Gannets in about an hour, after which the party rested awhile, and until most of the living birds had left their immediate neighbourhood, for all around them, beyond the distance of about a hundred yards, thousands of Gannets were yet sitting on their nests, and the air was filled with multitudes of others. The dead birds are now roughly skinned, and the flesh of the breast cut up in pieces of different sizes, which will keep good for bait about a fortnight or three weeks. ‘So great is the destruction of these birds for the purpose men- tioned, that the quantity of their flesh so procured supplies with bait upwards of forty boats, which lie fishing close to the Island of Brion each season. By the 20th of May the rock is covered with birds on their nests and eggs, and about a month afterwards the young are hatched. The earth is scratched by the birds for a few inches deep, and the edges surrounded by sea-weeds and other rubbish, to the height of eight or ten inches, tolerably well matted together. Each female Gannet lays a single egg, which is pure white, but not larger than a good-sized hen’s egg. When the young are hatched, they are bluish-black, and for a fortnight or more their skin is not unlike that of the common dog-fish. They gradually become downy and white, and when five or six weeks old look like great lumps of carded wool.’’ I was well pleased with this plain statement of our pilot, as I had with my glass observed the regularity of the lines of nests, and seen many of the birds digging the earth with their strong bills, while hundreds of them were carrying quantities of that long sea-weed called eel-grass, which they seem to bring from towards the Magdalene Islands. While the Ripley lay to near the rock, thousands of the Gannets constantly flew over our heads; and although I shot at and brought several to the water, neither the reports nor the sight of their dead companions seemed to make any impression on them. On weighing several of the Gannets brought on board, I found them to average rather more than seven pounds; but Mr. Gopwrn assured me that when the young birds are almost ready to fly, they weigh eight and some- times nine pounds. This I afterwards ascertained to be true, and I account for the difference exhibited at this period by the young birds, by the great COMMON GANNKET. AT profusion of food with which their parents supply them, regardless in a great measure of their own wants. The pilot further told me that the stench on the summit of the rock was insupportable, covered as it is during the breed- ing season, and after the first visits of the fishermen, with the remains of carcasses of old and young birds, broken and rotten eggs, excrements, and multitudes of fishes. He added that the Gannets, although cowardly birds, at times stand and await the approach of a man, with open bill, and strike furious and dangerous blows. Let me now, reader, assure you that unless you had seen the sight witnessed by my party and myself that day, you could not form a correct idea of the impression it has to this moment left on my mind. The extent of the southward migration of the Gannet, after it has reared its young, is far greater perhaps than has hitherto been supposed. I have frequently seen it on the Gulf of Mexico, in the latter part of autumn and in winter; and a few were met with, in the course of my last expedition, as far as the entrance of the Sabine river into the Gulf. Being entirely a maritime species, it never proceeds inland, unless forced by violent gales, which have produced a few such instances in Nova Scotia and the State of Maine, as well as the Floridas, where I saw one that had been found dead in the woods two days after a furious hurricane. The greater number of the birds of this species seen in these warm latitudes during winter are young of that or the preceding year. My friend Jonn Bacuman has informed me that during one of his visits to the Sea Islands off the shores of South Carolina, on the 2nd of July, 1836, he observed a flock of Gannets of from fifty to a hun- dred, all of the colouring of the one in my plate, and which was a bird in | its first winter plumage. They were seen during several days on and about Cole’s Island, at times on the sands, at others among the rolling breakers. ' He also mentions having heard Mr. Gizxs, an acquaintance of his, who knows much about birds, say, that in the course of the preceding summer he had seen a pair of Gannets going to, and returning from, a nest in a tree! This is in accordance with the report of Captain Napotron Costxz, who commanded the United States revenue cutter Campbell, placed at my disposal during my visit to Texas, and who was lieutenant as well as pilot of the Marion. He stated that he had found a breeding place on the coast of Georgia, occupied by a flock of old, and therefore White Gannets, the nests of all of which were placed upon trees. No one can be greatly sur- prised at these reports, who knows, as I do, that the Brown Gannet, Sula fusca, breeds both on trees and on dry elevated sand-bags. months I have generally observed single birds at some considera from the shore out at sea, sometimes indeed beyond what ma During winter ble distance riners call AS COMMON GANNET. soundings, but rarely young ones, they generally keeping much nearer to the shores, and procuring their food in shallower water. The flight of the Gannet is powerful, well sustained, and at times ex- tremely elegant. While travelling, whether in fine or foul weather, they fly low over the surface of the water, flapping their wings thirty or forty times in succession, in the manner of the Ibis and the Brown Pelican, and then sailing about an equal distance, with the wings at right angles to the body, and the neck extended forwards. But, reader, to judge of the ele- gance of this bird while on wing, I would advise you to gaze on it from the deck of any of our packet ships, when her commander has first communi- cated the joyful news that you are less than three hundred miles from the nearest shore, whether it be that of merry England or of my own beloved country. You would then see the powerful fisher, on well-spread pinions, and high over the water, glide silently along, surveying each swelling wave below, and coursing with so much ease and buoyancy as to tempt you to think that had you been furnished with equal powers of flight, you might perform a journey of eighty or ninety miles without the slightest fatigue in a single hour. But perhaps at the very moment when these thoughts have crossed your mind, as they many times have crossed mine on such occasions, they are suddenly checked by the action of the bird, which, intent on filling its empty stomach, and heedless of your fancies, plunges headlong through the air, with the speed of a meteor, and instantaneously snatches the fish which its keen sight had discovered from on high. Now perchance you may see the snow-white bird sit buoyantly for awhile on the bosom of its beloved element, either munching its prey, or swallowing it at once. Or perhaps, if disappointed in its attempt, you will see it rise by continued flappings, shaking its tail sideways the while, and snugly covering its broad webbed feet among the under coverts of that useful rudder, after which it proceeds in a straight course, until its wings being well supplied by the flowing air, it gradually ascends to its former height, and commences its search anew. In severe windy weather, I have seen the Gannet propelling itself against the gale by sweeps of considerable extent, placing its body almost sideways or obliquely, and thus alternately, in the manner of Petrels and Guillemots; and I have thought that the bird then moved with more velocity than at any other time, except when plunging after its prey. Persons who have seen it while engaged in procuring food, must, like myself, have been surprised when they have ry d in books that Gannets “are never known to dive,’’ and at they “have been taken by a fish fastened to a board sunk wo fathoms, in which case the neck has either been found dislocated, or the bill firmly fixed in the wood.”? With such statements yet are ass to the dep COMMON GANNET. 49 before him, one might think that his own vision had been defective, had he not been careful to note down at once the result of his observations. And as this is a matter of habit with me, I will offer you mine, good reader, not caring one jot for what has been said to you before on the subject. I have seen the Gannet plunge, and afterwards remain under the surface of the water for at least one minute ata time. On one occasion of this kind, I shot one just as it emerged, and which held a fish firmly in its bill, and had two others half-way down its throat. This has induced me to believe that it sometimes follows its prey in the water, and seizes several fishes in succession. At other times I have observed the Gannet plunge amidst a shoal of launces so as scarcely to enter the water, and afterwards follow them, swimming, or as it were running, on the water, with its wings extended upwards, and striking to the right and left until it was satiated. While on the Gulf of Mexico, I wounded a Gannet, which, on falling to the water, swam so fast before the boat, that we rowed about a quarter of a mile before we reached it, when it suddenly turned towards us, opened its bill, as if intent on defending itself, but was killed with the stroke of an oar by one of the sailors. When shot at without even being touched, these birds often disgorge their food in the manner of Vultures; and this they always do when wounded, if their stomach and gullet happen to be full. Sometimes, after being wounded in the wings, they will float and allow you to take them, without making any attempt to escape. Nay, my young friend, Grorge C. Saartuck, M. D., of Boston, while with me at Labrador, caught one which he found walking amongst a great number of Guillemots, on-a low and rocky island. When they are on their favourite breeding rocks, and about to fly, they elevate their head, throw it backward, open the bill, and emit a loud pro- longed cry, before launching themselves into the air, in doing which they waddle a few paces with their wings partially extended. After starting, their first motion is greatly inclined downwards, but they presently recover, and seem to support themselves with ease. When they are twenty or thirty yards off, you observe them shaking the tail sideways, and then hiding their feet among the under coverts of the tail. At other times they suddenly open their feet, moving them as if for the purpose of grasping some object below, in the same manner as some Hawks, but only for a few moments, when again the tail is shaken, and the feet hidden as before. They beat their wings and sail alternately, even when flying around their breeding places. On the ground the movements of the Gannet are exceedingly awkward, and it marches with hampered steps, assisting itself with the wings, or keep- ing them partially open, to prevent its falling. Their walk, indeed, is Vox. VII. wu 50 COMMON GANNET. merely a hobble. When the sun shines, they are fond of opening their wings and beating them in the manner of Cormorants, shaking the head meanwhile rather violently, and emitting their usual uncouth guttural notes of cara, karew, karow. You may well imagine the effect of a concert per- formed by all the Gannets congregated for the purpose of breeding on such a rock as that in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, where, amidst the uproar pro- duced by the repetition of these notes, you now and then distinguish the loud and continued wolfish howling-like sounds of those about to fly off. The newly-finished nest of this bird is fully two feet high, and quite as broad externally. It is composed of seaweeds and maritime grasses, the former being at times brought from considerable distances. Thus, the Gan- nets breeding on the rocks in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, carry weeds from the Magdalene Islands, which are about thirty miles distant. The grasses are pulled or dug up from the surface of the breeding place itself, often in great clods consisting of roots and earth, and leaving holes not unlike the entrances to the burrows of the Puffin. The nests, like those of Cormorants, are enlarged or repaired annually. The single egg, of a rather elongated oval form, averages three inches and one-twelfth in length, by two inches in its greatest breadth, and is covered with an irregular roughish coating of white calcareous matter, which on being scraped off, leaves exposed the pale greenish-blue tint of the under layer. The birds usually reach the rock when already paired, in files often of hundreds, and are soon seen billing in the manner of Cormorants, and copu- lating on the rocks, but never, like the birds just mentioned, on the water, as some have supposed. The period of their arrival at their breeding grounds appears to depend much on the latitude of the place; for, on the Bass Rock, in the Firth of Forth, which I had the pleasure of visiting in the agreeable company of my learned friend Witt1Aam Maceriirvray and his son, on the 19th of August, 1835, the Gannets are first seen in February, whereas in the Gulf of St. Lawrence they rarely reach the Great Rock until the middle of April or beginning of May; and at Chateau Beau in the Straits of Belle Isle, not until a fortnight or three weeks later. Like the members of most large communities, the Gannets, though so truly gregarious at this season, shew a considerable degree of animosity towards their more immediate neighbours as soon as incubation commences. A lazy bird perhaps, finding it easier to rob the nest of its friend of weeds and sods, than to convey them from some distant place, seizes some, on which the other resents the injury, and some well-directed thrusts of their strong bills are made, in open day and in full view of the assembled sitters, who rarely fail to look on with interest, and pass the news from one to another, until all are apprized of the quarrel. The time however passes on. The patient mother, to lend more COMMON GANNET. 51 warmth to her only egg, plucks a few of the feathers from some distance beneath her breast. In sunny weather, she expands those of her upper parts, and passing her bill along their roots, destroys the vile insects that lurk there. Should a boisterous gale or a thick cold fog mar the beauty of the day, she gathers her apparel around her, and shrinks deeper into her bed; and should it rain, she places her body so as to prevent the inundation of her household. How happy, reader, must she be when now and then her keen eyes distinguish in the crowd her affectionate mate, as he returns from the chase, with loaded bill, and has already marked her among the thousand beauties all equally anxious for the arrival of their lords! Now by her side he alights as gently as is in his nature, presents her with a welcome repast, talks perhaps cheeringly to her, and again opening his broad wings departs in search of a shoal of herrings. At length, the oval chest opens, and out crawls the tender young; but lo! the little thing is black. Whata strange contrast to the almost pure white of the parent! Yet the mother loves it, with all the tenderness of other mothers. She has anxiously ex- pected its appearance, and at once she nurses it with care; but so tender is it that she prefers waiting awhile before she feeds it. The time however soon comes, and with exceeding care she provides some well macerated morsels which she drops into its open mouth; so well prepared are they that there is no instance on record of a Gannet, even of that tender age, having suffered from dyspepsia or indigestion. The male Gannet assists in incubating, though he sits less desichicucly te than the female; and, on such occasions, the free bird supplies the other with food. The sight of the young Gannet just after birth might not please the eye of many, for it is then quite naked, and of a deep bluish-black, much resembling a young Cormorant. Its abdomen is extremely large, its neck thin, its head large, its eyes as yet sightless, its wings but slightly developed. When you look at it three weeks afterwards, it has grown much, and almost entirely changed its colour, for, now, with the exception of certain parts of the neck, the short thighs, and the belly, it is covered with yellowish soft and thick down. In this state it looks perhaps as uncouth as at first, but it grows so rapidly that at the end of three weeks more, you find its downy coat patched with feathers in the most picturesque manner imaginable. Looking around you, you observe that all the young are not of the same growth; for all the Gannets do not lay on the same day, and probably all the young are not equally supplied with food. At this period, the great eyrie looks as if all its parts had become common property; the nests, which were once well fashioned are trampled down; the young birds stand everywhere or anywhere; lazy-looking creatures they are, and with an appearance of nonchalance which I have never observed in any other species of bird, and r 52 COMMON GANNET. ~ which would lead you to think that they care as little about the present as the future. Now the old birds are freed of part of their cares, they drop such fish as they have obtained by the side of their young, and, like Cormo- rants, Pelicans, or Herons, seldom bring a supply oftener than once a-day. Strange to say, the young birds at this period do not appear to pay the least attention to the old ones, which occasionally alight near them, and drop fish for them to feed upon. Gannets do not feed, as some have supposed, and as many have believed, on herring only; for I have found in their stomachs codlings eight inches in length, as well as very large American mackerels, which, by the way, are quite different from those so abundantly met with on the coasts of Europe. The young never leave the spot on which they have been reared until they are well able to fly, when they separate from the old birds, and do not rejoin them until at least a year after. Although I have in a few instances found individuals yet patched with dark grey spots, and with most of their primary quills still black, I am confident that it is not until the end of two years that they acquire their full plumage. I have seen some with one wing almost pure black, and the tail of that colour also; others with the tail only black; and several with pure black feathers interspersed among the general white plumage. I know of no other bird that has so few formidable enemies as the Gan- net. Not one of the species of Lestris with which I am acquainted ever attempts to molest it; and, although I have seen the Frigate Pelican in quest of food within a short distance of it, 1 never saw it offer injury. The insular rocks on which it breeds are of course inaccessible to quadrupeds. The only animals, so far as I know, that feed on the eggs or young, are the Larus marinus and Larus glaucus. It is said that the Skua, Lestris Catarractes, sometimes pursues the Gannets, but that species does not exist in North America; and I am inclined to doubt the truth of this statement, for I have never seen a Lestris of any kind attack a bird equal to itself in size and strength. Soon after the young Gannets are able to fly, all the birds of the species leave the breeding place, and absent themselves until the following season. While at Newfoundland, I was told that the English and French fishermen who inhabit that country salt young Gannets for winter provision, as is done in Scotland; but I saw none there. In my estimation, the flesh of this bird is so bad that, as long as any other can be procured, it ought to be rejected. It is a curious fact, that the Gannets often procure mackerels or herrings four or five weeks before the fishermen fall in with them on our coast; but this is easily explained by their extensive wanderings. Although this bird is easily kept in captivity, it is far from being a pleasant pet. Its ordure is 7 COMMON GANNET. 53 abundant, disagreeable to the eye as well as the nose; its gait is awkward; and even its pale owl-like eyes glare on you with an unpleasant expression. Add to this, the expense of its food, and I can easily conceive that you will not give it a place in your aviary, unless for the mere amusement of seeing it catch the food thrown to it, which it does like a dog. The feathers of the lower parts of the Gannet differ from those of most other birds, in being extremely convex externally, which gives the bird the appearance of being covered beneath with light shell-work, exceedingly diffi- cult to be represented in a drawing. SULA BASSANA, Bonap. Syn., p. 408. Gannet, Sula bassana, Nutt. Man., vol. il. p. 495. Common Gannet, Sula bassana, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. iv. p. 222. Adult, 403, 75. Young fledged, 38, 72. Ranges southward off the coast at all seasons as far as the Gulf of Mexico. Breeds on rocks on the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and off the coast of Labrador. Abundant. Migratory. Adult Male. Bill longer than the head, opening beyond the eyes, straight, elongated- conical, moderately compressed. Upper mandible with the dorsal line straight and declinate, at the end convex and a little decurved; ridge very broad, convex, with a slight median carina, and separated on each side, from the sides, which are nearly perpendicular, slightly convex, and have an addi- tional narrow jointed piece below the eye; edges sharp, direct, irregularly serrate, with numerous slender cuts directed backwards; tip compressed, a little decurved, rather acute. No external nostrils. Lower mandible with the angle very long and narrow, the dorsal line straight, ascending, the sides , erect, convex, the edges sharp and serrated, the tip compressed and sharp. Head large; neck of moderate length and very thick, body of moderate bulk, rather elongated; wings long. Feet short, strong, placed rather far behind; tibize concealed; tarsus very short, rounded before, sharp behind, at its upper part anteriorly with rather large roundish-flat scales, in the rest of its extent with very small oblong tubercles; anteriorly there are three lines of small transversely oblong scutella, which run down the toes. The latter are long and slender, all united by membranes, which are reticularly granu- lated, and have their margins straight; first toe rather small, directed inwards and forwards, middle toe longest, the outer almost equal. Claws of mode- rate size, slightly arched, those of the first and middle toes depressed, the latter with its inner edge thin and pectinated. Plumage generally close, rather compact, the feathers small and rounded; those on the head and neck blended and slightly glossed. A bare space 54 COMMON GANNET. between the bill and the eye, surrounding the latter, and extending an inch behind the angle of the mouth. The gular membrane also bare for a small breadth, extending two inches beyond the base of the mandible. About a quarter of an inch of the tibia bare. Wings very long, narrow, acute; pri- maries strong, narrow, tapering rapidly to a rounded point; first longest, second about a quarter of an inch shorter, the rest rapidly graduated; secon- daries short, rather broad, rounded, with a minute acumen. ‘Tail rather long, cuneate, of twelve narrow tapering feathers. Bill pale bluish-grey, tinged with green towards the base; the lines on the upper mandible blackish-blue; the bare space about the eye, and that on the throat, blackish-blue. Iris white. Tarsi, toes, and webs, brownish-black, the bands of narrow scutella on the tarsus and toes light greenish-blue; claws greyish-white. The general colour of the plumage is white; the upper part of the head and the hind neck of a fine buff-colour. Primary quills brown- ish-black, their shafts white toward the base. Length to end of tail 404 inches, to end of wings 38%, to end of claws 41; extent of wings 75; wing from flexure 203; tail 10; bill along the ridge 4, along the edge of lower mandible 6; tarsus 275; first toe and claw 14; mid- dle toe 3-8, its claw 7; outer toe 33; its claw 4. Weight 7 Ibs. The Female is similar to the male, but rather smaller. Young fully fledged. Bill light greyish-brown; the bare space around the eye pale greyish-blue. Iris ereen. Feet dusky, the narrow bands of scutella pale greyish-blue; claws greyish-white. The head, neck, and upper parts are chocolate-brown, each feather with a terminal narrow triangular white spot; the lower parts greyish-white, spotted with greyish-brown; each feather having a broad terminal margin of that colour. The quills and tail-feathers are brownish- black. An individual shot in October measured as follows:— Length to end of tail 38 inches, to end of claws 324; extent of wings 72. Weight 3 Ibs. 4 oz. This individual, however, was very poor. Three individuals shot in the neighbourhood of Boston, Massachusetts, presented the following dimensions, which are here given as indicative of the difference of size frequently observed :— Length to end of tail, : d 382 382 Sf WP aabiesbasticalsty.cua se) wings, . : 374 374 35 OP aie ae ee claws, . : 342 344 33 Extent of wings, : 3 ‘ 734 72 685 Wing from flexure, . 5 194 175 193 An adult Male killed near Boston. The cellular tissue of the back exhi- bits vacuities of very large size, intervening between the skin and the mus- cles: one, at the lower part of the neck behind, being 5 inches in length; COMMON GANNET. 55 another 54 inches long, extending from the furcula down the humerus; and behind the wings four others, extending to the last rib. Branches from these pass between the muscles, which present the appearance of having been as it were dissected. A cell of enormous size covers the side of the abdomen, and another pair run down the middle of it, separated by a partition in the median line. That part of the cellular tissue which adheres to the bases of the feathers is also remarkably loose; and, close to each of them, is a round- ish aperture of large size, communicating with the great cavities mentioned ‘above. Between the pectoralis major and the subjacent muscles is a large interspace formed by a great cell. The internal thoracic and abdominal cells are also very large. On the roof of the mouth are five sharp ridges. The nasal aperture is 1 inch and 5 twelfths long, linear, with a soft longitudinal flap on each side. The tongue is extremely small, being only 7 twelfths long, 1 twelfth broad, blunt at the extremity, and with two papillz at the base. The bare skin between the crura of the mandibles is of the same structure as that of the Pelicans and Cormorants, but of small extent, its posterior acute extremity not extending farther than that at the base of the bill. The aperture of the glottis is 74 twelfths long. The thyroid bone has an anterior curved pro- longation, which projects forwards, and from the extremity of which comes the elastic ligament by which it is connected with the hyoid bone. The cesophagus, @, 6, is 15 inches long, measured to the commencement of the proventriculus, extremely dilated, its diameter 24 inches at the top, con- tracting to 2 inches as it enters the thorax, its narrowest part 1 inch 4 twelfths; its transverse muscular fibres moderately strong. The proven- triculus, c, d, is excessively large, 3} inches long, its greatest diameter 23 inches. The glandules are cylindrical, 3 twelfths long, forming a very broad | belt, separated however at its narrowest part by a longitudinal interval of 5 twelfths of an inch, and having three partial divisions on its lower edge. The greatest length of the proventriculus, or breadth of the belt of glandules, is 24 inches. The mucous coat of the cesophagus is smooth, but thrown into longitudinal plice when contracted; that of the proventriculus is con- tinuous, and of the same nature, being marked with extremely minute reticulated lines, of which the more prominent have a longitudinal direction. The stomach, properly so called, de, is extremely small, being only 1 inch 9 twelfths long, and about the same breadth. Its inner coat is similar to that of the cesophagus and proventriculus, being destitute of epithelium; several large mucous crypts are scattered over its surface. The pylorus is small, having a diameter of nearly 3 twelfths, and a marginal flap or valve on one side. The intestine, f, g, h, is of moderate length, measuring 53 inches. The duodenum at first passes upwards in the direction of the liver for 2 56 COMMON GANNET. inches, fg, is then recurved for 3 inches, g, #, ascends for 4 inches, A, 2, and receives the biliary ducts, then passes toward the spine and forms a curvature. The average diameter of the intestine is 5 twelfths at the upper part, and it gradually contracts to 3 twelfths. The rectum, %, measured to the anus, is 54 inches. It gradually enlarges from 4 to 64 twelfths. The cloaca, , is globular, 9 twelfths long, 8 twelfths broad. The ceca are 3 twelfths long, 14 twelfths broad. The lobes of the liver are extreme- ly unequal, as is always the case when the stomach or the proventriculus is excessively large, the right lobe being 2 inches long, the left 1 inch and 8 twelfths. The gall-bladder, n, is very large, of an oblong form, rounded at both ends, 1 inch and 8 twelfths long. The trachea is 12 inches long, moderately ossified, round, its diame- ter at the top 7 twelfths, gradually narrowing to 4 twelfths; the rings 124, the lower 4 united. The bronchi are large, their diameter greater than that of the lower part of the trachea; of 25 cartilaginous half-rings. The lateral or contractor muscles of the trachea are of moderate strength; the sterno-tracheals strong; yellowish-white bodies inserted upon the membrane a pair of inferior laryngeal muscles attached to the glandular-looking, between the first and second rings of the bronchi. The olfactory nerve comes off from the extreme anterior point of the cerebrum, enters a canal in the spongy tissue of the bone, and runs in it close to the septum between the eyes for 10 twelfths of an inch, witha slight curve. It then enters the nasal cavity, which is of an irregular trian- gular form, 14 inches long at the external or palatal aperture, 10 twelfths in height. The supramaxillary branch of the fifth pair runs along the upper edge of the orbit, and by a canal in the spongy tissue of the bones, enters the great cavity of the upper mandible, keeping nearer its lower surface, and there branching. This cavity appears to have no communication with the nasal; nor has the latter any passage towards the obliterated external nostrils. Sy ers te ‘ erat Lees eked a Nooo. : PL.426. Kd < ty e2A70C72ECC Lithe Printed Kol by I 7 Benn LM DrawreLrem Nitlirt OY ff Muka THE BOOBY GANNET. 57 The lachrymal duct passes obliquely inwards from the anterior corner of the eye, and enters the nasal cavity by an aperture } twelfth in diameter, near its anterior margin. In the cloaca was found a solid calculus, half an inch in diameter, of an irregular form, white within, externally pale yellowish-brown, and marked with grooves impressed by the action of the sphincter ani. The digestive and respiratory organs of the American Gannet are thus precisely similar to those of the European. In external form, proportions, and colours, there are no appreciable differences. The young in all stages are similar. The flight, voice, general habits, and all other circumstances, are the same. What, then, shall we say to those who have pretended that the American bird differs from the European? Merely this, compare the two, outside and inside, shew us differences, and then we shall judge if they be sufficient to indicate different species; but until you have done this, do not imagine that a mere “Sula Americana Nob.,”’ is enough to satisfy the world on this or any similar point. THE BOOBY GANNET. +SuLa Fusca, Linn. PLATE CCCCXXVI.—Mate. As the Marion was nearing the curious islets of the Tortugas, one of the birds that more particularly attracted my notice was of this species. The nearer we approached the land, the more numerous did they become, and I felt delighted with the hope that ere many days should elapse, I should have an opportunity of studying their habits. As night drew her sombre curtain over the face of nature, some of these birds alighted on the top-yard of our bark, and I observed ever afterwards that they manifested a propensity to roost at as great a height as possible above the surrounding objects, making choice of the tops of bushes, or even upright poles, and disputing with each other the privilege. The first that was shot at, was approached with con- siderable difficulty: it had alighted on the prong of a tree which had floated and been fastened to the bottom of a rocky shallow at some distance from Vou. VII. 8 58 THE BOOBY GANNETT. shore; the water was about four feet deep and quite rough; sharks we well knew were abundant around us; but the desire to procure the bird was too strong to be overcome by such obstacles. In an instant, the pilot and myself were over the sides of the boat, and onward we proceeded with our guns cocked and ready. The yawl was well manned, and its crew awaiting the result. After we had struggled through the turbulent waters about a hun- dred yards, my companion raised his gun and fired; but away flew the bird with a broken leg, and we saw no more of it that day. Next day, however, at the same hour, the Booby was seen perched on the same prong, where, after resting about three hours, it made off to the open sea, doubtless in search of food. About eight miles to the north-east of the Tortugas lighthouse, lies a small sand-bar a few acres in extent, called Booby Island, on account of the number of birds of this species that resort to it during the breeding-season, and to it we accordingly went. We found it not more than a few feet above the surface of the water, but covered with Boobies, which lay basking in the sunshine, and pluming themselves. Our attempt to land on the island before the birds should fly off, proved futile, for before we were within fifty yards of it, they had all betaken themselves to flight, and were dispersing in various directions. We landed, however, distributed ourselves in different parts, and sent the boat to some distance, the pilot assuring us that the birds would return. And so it happened. As they approached, we laid ourselves as flat as possible in the sand, and although none of them alighted, we attained our object, for in a couple of hours we procured thirty individuals of both sexes and of different ages, finding little difficulty in bringing them down as they flew over us at a moderate height. The wounded birds that fell on the ground made immediately for the water, moving with more ease than I had expected from the accounts usually given of the awkward motions of these birds on the land. Those which reached the water swam off with great buoyancy, and with such rapidity, that it took much rowing to secure some of them, while most of those that fell directly into the sea with only a wing broken, escaped. The island was covered with their dung, the odour of which extended to a considerable distance leeward. In the evening of the same day we landed on another island, named after the | Noddy, and thickly covered with bushes and low trees, to which thousands of that species of Tern resort for the purpose of breeding. There also we found a great number of Boobies. They were perched on the top branches of the trees, on which they had nests, and here again we obtained as many as we desired. ‘They flew close over our heads, eyeing us with dismay but in silence; indeed, not one of these birds ever emitted a cry, except at the moment when they rose from their perches or from the sand. Their note THE BOOBY GANNET. 59 is harsh and guttural, somewhat like that of a strangled pig, and resembling the syllables hork, hork. The nest of the Booby is placed on the top of a bush at a height of from four to ten feet. It is large and flat, formed of a few dry sticks, covered and matted with sea-weeds in great quantity. I have no doubt that they return to the same nest many years in succession, and repair it as occasion requires. In all the nests which I examined, only one egg was found, and as most of the birds were sitting, and some of the eggs had the chick nearly ready for exclusion, it is probable that these birds raise only a single young one, like the Common Gannet or Solan Goose. The egg is of a dull white colour, without spots, and about the size of that of a common hen, but- more elon- gated, being 23 inches in length, with a diameter of 13. In some nests they were covered with filth from the parent bird, in the manner of the Florida Cormorant. The young, which had an uncouth appearance, were covered with down; the bill and feet of a deep livid blue or indigo colour. On being touched, they emitted no cry, but turned away their heads at every trial. A great quantity of fish lay beneath the trees in a state of putrefaction, proving how abundantly the young birds were supplied by their parents. Indeed, while we were on Noddy Island, there was a constant succession of birds coming in from the sea with food for their young, consisting chiefly of flying- fish and small mullets, which they disgorged in a half macerated state into the open throats of their offspring. Unfortunately the time afforded me on that coast was not sufficient to enable me to trace the progress of their growth. I observed, however, that none of the birds which were still brown had nests, and that they roosted apart, particularly on Booby Island, where also many barren ones usually resorted, to lie on the sand and bask in the sun. The flight of the Booby is graceful and extremely protracted. They pass swiftly at a height of from twenty yards to a foot or two from the surface, often following the troughs of the waves to a considerable distance, their wings extended at right angles to the body; then, without any apparent effort, raising themselves and allowing the rolling waters to break beneath them, when they tack about, and sweep along in a contrary direction in search of food, much in the manner of the true Petrels. Now, if you follow an individual, you see that it suddenly stops short, plunges headlong into the water, pierces with its powerful beak and secures a fish, emerges again with inconceivable ease, after a short interval rises on wing, performs a few wide circlings, and makes off toward some shore. At this time its flight is dif- ferent, being performed by flappings for twenty or thirty paces, with alter- nate sailings of more than double that space. When overloaded with food, 60 THE BOOBY GANNET. they alight on the water, where, if undisturbed, they appear to remain for hours at a time, probably until digestion has afforded them relief. The range to which this species confines itself along our coast, seldom extends beyond Cape Hatteras to the eastward, but they become more and more numerous the farther south we proceed. ‘They breed abundantly on all such islands or keys as are adapted for the purpose, on the southern and western coasts of the Floridas and in the Gulf of Mexico, where I was told they breed on the sand-bars. Their power of wing seems sufficient to enable them to brave the tempest, while during a continuance of fair weather they venture to a great distance seaward, and I have seen them fully 200 miles from land. The expansibility of the gullet of this species enables it to swallow fishes of considerable size, and on such occastons their mouth seems to spread to an unusual width. In the throats of several individuals that were shot as they were returning to their nests, I found mullets measuring seven or eight inches, that must have weighed fully half a pound. Their body, beneath the skin, is covered with numerous air-cells, which probably assist them in raising or lowering themselves while on wing, and perhaps still more so when on the point of performing the rapid plunge by which they secure their prey. Their principal enemies during the breeding-season are the American Crow and the Fish Crow, both of which destroy their eggs, and the Turkey Buzzard, which devours their young while yet unfledged. They breed during the month of May, but I have not been able to ascertain if they raise more than one brood in the season. ‘The adult birds chase away those which are yet immature during the period of incubation. It would seem that they take several years in attaining their perfect state. When procured alive, they feed freely, and may be kept any length of time, provided they are supplied with fish. No other food, however, could I tempt them to swallow, excepting slices of turtle, which after all they did not seem to relish. In no instance did I observe one drinking. Some authors have stated that the Frigate Pelican and the Lestris force the Booby to disgorge its food that they may obtain it; but this I have never witnessed. Like the Common Gannet, they may be secured by fastening a fish to a soft plank, and sinking it a few feet beneath the surface of the water, for if they perceive the bait, which they are likely to do if they pass over it, they plunge headlong upon it, and drive their bill into the wood. When a Booby has alighted on the spar of a vessel, it is no easy matter to eatch it, unless it is much fatigued; but if exhausted and asleep, an expert seaman may occasionally secure one. I was informed that after the breed- ing-season, these birds roost on trees in company with the Brown Pelican THE BOOBY GANNET. 61 and a species of Tern, Sterna stolida, and spend their hours of daily rest on the sand-banks. Our pilot, who was a man of great observation, assured me that while at Vera Cruz, he saw the fishermen there go to sea, and return from considerable distances, simply by following the course of the Boobies. The bills and legs of those which I procured in the brown plumage, and which were from one to two years of age, were dusky-blue. These were undergoing moult on the 14th of May. Ata more advanced age, the parts mentioned become paler, and when the bird has arrived at maturity, are as represented in my plate. I observed no external difference between the sexes in the adult birds. The stomach is a long dilatable pouch, thin, and of a yellow colour. The body is muscular, and the flesh, which is of a dark colour, tough, and having a disagreeable smell, is scarcely fit for food. I am unable to find a good reason for those who have chosen to call these birds boobies. Authors, it is true, generally represent them as extremely stupid; but to me the word is utterly inapplicable to any bird with which I am acquainted. The Woodcock, too, is said to be stupid, as are many other birds; but my opinion, founded on pretty extensive observation, is, that it is only when birds of any species are unacquainted with man, that they manifest that kind of 7gnorance or innocence which he calls stupidity, and by which they suffer themselves to be imposed upon. A little acquaint- ance with him soon enables them to perceive enough of his character to induce them to keep aloof. This I observed in the Booby Gannet, as well as in the Noddy Tern, and in certain species of land birds of which I have already spoken. After my first visit to Booby Island in the Tortugas, the Gannets had already become very shy and wary, and before the Marion sailed away from those peaceful retreats of the wandering sea-birds, the Boobies had become so knowing, that the most expert of our party could, not get within shot of them. Suva rusca, Bonap. Syn., p. 408. Booey, Sula fusca, Nutt. Man., vol. ii. p. 500. Boory Gannet, Sula fusca, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. iii. p. 63. Male, 31, 493. Gulf of Mexico, and as far east as the coast of Georgia. Breeds on the Tortugas Keys, south of Florida. Abundant. Migratory. Adult Male. Bill longer than the head, opening beyond the eyes, straight, elongated- conical, broader above than beneath at the base, compressed. Upper man- dible with the dorsal line convex at the base, then a little concave, and towards the tip slightly arched, ridge very broad, convex, separated by a seam on each side from the sides, which are nearly perpendicular, edges 62 THE BOOBY GANNET. sharp, inflected, serrated, tip acute. No external nostrils. Lower mandible prolonged at the base behind the upper, its angle very long, wide at the base, : with a bare membrane, very narrow towards the end, dorsal line straight, ascending, sides convex, tip very acute, edges serrated towards the end. Head rather large; neck rather long and thick; body of moderate bulk, rather elongated; wings long. Feet short, strong, placed rather far behind; tibize concealed; tarsus very short, rounded before, sharp behind, covered all round with reticular scales; toes all united by membranes; first very short, being about half the length of the second, third and fourth longest and nearly equal, but the claw of the third is much longer than that of the fourth; claws small, compressed, acute, curved, that of the third toe largest, depressed, curved outwards, with a thin pectinated inner edge. Plumage generally short, close, rather compact, the feathers small and rounded; those on the head very small; loral and orbital spaces bare, as is that in the angle of the lower mandible, and a short space above the tibio- tarsal joint; wings long, acute, narrow; primaries strong, narrow, tapering rapidly to a rounded point, first and second longest and about equal, the rest rapidly graduated; secondaries short, rather broad, narrowed towards the rounded point. ‘Tail rather long, cuneate, of twelve narrow, tapering feathers. - Bill and naked parts at its base bright yellow, pale flesh-coloured towards the end; a dusky spot before the eye. Iris white. Tarsi, toes, and their connecting webs, pale yellow, claws white. Head, neck all round, upper parts in general, and lower surface of wings, dusky-brown, tinged with grey; the breast, abdomen, and lower tail-coverts, pure white. Length 31 inches, to end of claws 27, extent of wings 294; bill along the back 313, along the edge 5; tarsus 15%, middle toe and claw 35. Wing from flexure 164, tail 84. Weight 3 lbs. 43 oz. The Female resembles the male, but is smaller. The Young, when fledged, are of a greyish-brown colour all over, the breast and abdomen being merely a little lighter than the rest. The bill and claws are dusky, the tarsi and toes with their membranes dull yellow. 63 Genus VI.—PHAETON, Zinn. TROPIC BIRD. Bill as long as the head, stout, very much compressed, slightly curved, tapering, acute, opening to beneath the eye; upper mandible with the dorsal line slightly arched, the ridge narrow, rounded, the sides sloping and slightly convex at the base, nearly erect towards the end, the edges sharp, direct, irregularly broken, the tip acuminate; nasal groove short, near the ridge; lower mandible with the angle long, and extremely narrow, the dorsal line straight and ascending, the sides erect and slightly convex, the tip acuminate. Nostrils basal, linear, very small. Head rather large, ovate; neck short and thick; body rather full. Feet very short; tibia bare for a considerable space; tarsus extremely short, roundish, covered with small round scales; toes rather small, placed in the same plane, and connected by reticulated webs; first very small, third a little longer than fourth, all scutellate above. Claws small, arched, compressed, rather sharp, that of the third toe with a thin entire inner edge. Plumage soft, blended, on the back rather compact. Wings long, acute, the first quill longest. Tail of twelve feathers, tapering, the two middle feathers extremely elongated, narrow, and tapering. ‘This genus appears to be intermediate between Sula and Sterna. 64 THE TROPIC BIRD. ~ PHAETON ETHEREUS, Linn. PLATE CCCCXXVII.—Apbuttr Mate anp FemMate. The specimens from which the figures in the plate were taken, were obtained on the Tortugas, in the summer of 1852, by my kind friend Rosert Day, Esq. of the United States revenue cutter Marion. They were shot.out of a flock of eight or ten, and were in fine condition. I have repre- sented the male and female, in what I suppose to be their full summer or breeding plumage; but not having had an opportunity of studying the habits of this remarkable bird, I am unable to give any information respecting them. PHAETON £THEREUS, Bonap. Syn., p. 409. Tropic Biro, Nutt. Man., vol. ii. p. 503. Tropic Birp, Phaeton ethereus, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. iii. p. 442. Male, 294, 38. Female, 26, 34. Rare on the coast of Florida. Migratory. Adult Male in summer. Bill as long as the head, stout, very much compressed, slightly curved, tapering, acute. Upper mandible with the dorsal line slightly arched, the ridge narrow, but rounded, the sides sloping and slightly convex at the base, nearly perpendicular towards the end, the edges sharp, irregularly broken, the tip acute. Nasal groove short, near the ridge; nostrils linear, very small. Lower mandible with the angle of moderate length, extremely nar- row, the dorsal line straight and ascending, the sides erect and slightly con- vex, the edges sharp but irregularly serrated, the tip very acute. Head rather large, ovate. Neck short and thick. Body rather full. Feet very short; tibia bare for a considerable space; tarsus extremely short, roundish, covered all round with small round scales; toes rather small, placed in the same place, and connected by reticulated webs; the first toe very small, the third and fourth about equal, all scutellate above. Claws small, arched, compressed, rather sharp, that of middle toe largest, with an undu- lated thin inner edge. Plumage soft, blended, on the back and wings rather compact. Wings STL SMA VOGHPAL LAG PLRQDY MON UBNAT a SOY Z BOUL Y MAMOL LE LAR LOI) DOM, YRT G — THE TROPIC BIRD. 65 long, acute; primaries strong, tapering, the first longest, the rest rapidly graduated; secondaries very short, incurved, rounded, the inner longer. Tail of twelve feathers, wedge-shaped, the two middle feathers extremely elongated, narrow, and tapering. Bill orange-red. Iris brown. ‘Tarsi and base of toes yellow, the rest and _ the webs black, as are the claws. The general colour of the plumage is pale pink, or. white tinged with carmine, the two middle tail feathers redder. A curved spot before the eye, and band behind it, black. A band of the same colour extends across the wing from the flexure, running narrow along the middle coverts, much enlarged on the inner secondaries and their coverts, and including the extremities of the scapulars. The outer webs, shafts, and a portion of the inner webs of the first four primary quills, are also black, and there is a spot of the same on some of the primary coverts. The shafts of the two middle tail feathers are black, excepting towards the end; and some of the long hypochondrical feathers are greyish-black in the centre. Length to end of tail 294 inches, to end of wings 16, to end of claw 14; extent of wings 38; wing from flexure 114; tail 19$; bill along the ridge 2, along the edge of lower mandible 23; tarsus 143; middle toe 17%, its claw 42, Weight 15 oz. Adult Female. The female resembles the male, but is less tinged with red. The bill is yellow, the iris and feet as in the male. The tail-feathers are also less elon- gated. Length to end of tail 26 inches, to end of wings 144, to end of claws 13; wing from flexure 11; tail 16; extent of wings 34; bill along the ridge 14, along the edge of lower mandible 24; tarsus 12; middle toe 14, its claw 43. Weight 12 oz, Vou? VII. 9 66 FAMILY XLII.—LARINA, GULLS. Bill of moderate length, straight, compressed, acute; upper mandible with the dorsal line generally straight until toward the end, when it is decurved, the ridge convex, the nasal groove rather long, the edges sharp, direct, over- lapping, the tip rather acute and declinate; lower mandible with the angle long and very narrow, the dorsal line ascending and nearly straight, with an angular prominence at its commencement. Nostrils sub-medial or basal, oblong. Head of moderate size, ovate; neck of moderate length; body rather stout. Legs short or of moderate length; tibia bare at its lower part; tarsus anteriorly scutellate; toes four, the first very small, free, the third longest; anterior toes connected by webs. Claws small, arched, compressed, rather acute. Plumage full, soft, blended, somewhat compact on the back and wings, the latter long and pointed; tail of twelve feathers, even, rounded, or emarginate. ‘Tongue long, slender, pointed; cesophagus very wide; sto- mach rather small, moderately muscular, with a dense, longitudinally-rugous epithelium; intestine of moderate length and width; cceca small; cloaca globular. Trachea simple, with a single pair of inferior laryngeal muscles. Nest on the ground, rudely constructed. Eggs few, not exceeding four, ' spotted. Young covered with down. Genus 1.—RHYNCHOPS, Zinn. SKIMMER. Bill longer than the head, nearly straight, tetragonal at the base, suddenly extremely compressed and continuing so to the end; upper mandible much shorter than the lower, its ridge sharp, the sides erect but a little convex, the edges approximated so as to leave merely a very narrow groove between them, the tip a little rounded, when viewed laterally; nasal groove rather short, near the margin; lower mandible with the angle extremely short, the dorsal line straight or slightly decurved, the sides erect, obliquely grooved, the edges united into a very thin blade, which fits into the narrow groove of the upper mandible, the tip rounded or abrupt, when viewed laterally. Nostrils linear-oblong. Head rather large, oblong, considerably elevated in PUR L UOMOLL LAD LOR PML YUUNT oy : STIS LL UCCUOUE [LAG PAPO UOLL UMDAT GOP PPCM 7G DWCAtO- APO OP ea 7 I i CG Dy YS LF dM BLACK SKIMMER. 67 front; neck rather short, thick; body short, ovate. Feet short, moderately stout; tibia bare below, with narrow transverse scutella before and behind; tarsus short, anteriorly covered with broad scutella; toes very small, the first extremely short and free, unless at the base; middle toe slightly longer than outer; anterior toes united by deeply emarginate webs. Claws long, com- pressed, slightly arched, rather obtuse. Plumage moderately full, soft, and blended; wings extremely long, and very narrow; primary quills excessively long, the first longest; secondaries short. ‘Tail of moderate length, deeply forked, of twelve feathers. Tongue short, triangular, tapering; cesophagus wide; stomach rather small, oblong, muscular, the cuticular lining dense, with nine broad longitudinal rug; intestine rather long, narrow; cceca very small; cloaca large, globular; the digestive organs are precisely similar to those of the Terns and smaller Gulls. BLACK SKIMMER OR RAZOR-BILLED SHEARWATER. +Ruyncuors nigra, Linn. PLATE CCCCXXVIII.—Mate. This bird, one of the most singularly endowed by nature, is a constant. resident on all the sandy and marshy shores of our more southern States, from South Carolina to the Sabine river, and doubtless also in Texas, where I found it quite abundant in the beginning of spring. At this season parties of Black Skimmers extend their movements eastward as far as the sands of Long Island, beyond which however I have not seen them. Indeed in Mas- sachusetts and Maine this bird is known only to such navigators as have observed it in the southern and tropical regions. To study its habits therefore, the naturalist must seek the extensive sand- bars, estuaries, and mouths of the rivers of our Southern States, and enter the sinuous bayous intersecting the broad marshes along their coasts. There, during the warm sunshine of the winter days, you will see thousands of Skimmers, covered as it were with their gloomy mantles, peaceably lying beside each other, and so crowded together as to present to your eye the appearance of an immense black pall accidentally spread on the sand. Such 68 BLACK SKIMMER. times are their hours of rest, and I believe of sleep, as, although partially diurnal, and perfectly able to discern danger by day, they rarely feed then, unless the weather be cloudy. On the same sands, yet apart from them, equal numbers of our Black-headed Gulls may be seen enjoying the same comfort in security. Indeed the Skimmers are rarely at such times found on sand or gravel banks which are not separated from the neighbouring shores by some broad and deep piece of water. I think I can safely venture to say that in such places, and at the periods mentioned, I have seen not fewer than ten thousand of these birds in a single flock. Should you now attempt to approach them, you will find that as soon as you have reached within twice the range of your long duck-gun, the crowded Skimmers simultaneously rise on their feet, and watch all your movements. If you advance nearer, the whole flock suddenly taking to wing, fill the air with their harsh cries, and soon reaching a considerable height, range widely around, until, your patience being exhausted, you abandon the place. When thus taking to wing in countless multitudes, the snowy white of their under parts gladdens your eye, but anon, when they all veer through the air, the black of their long wings and upper parts produces a remarkable contrast to the blue sky above. Their aérial evolutions on such occasions are peculiar and pleasing, as they at times appear to be intent on removing to a great distance, then suddenly round to, and once more pass almost over you, flying so close together as to appear like a black cloud, first ascending, and then rushing down like a torrent. Should they see that you are retiring, they - wheel a few times close over the ground, and when assured that there is no longer any danger, they alight pell-mell, with wings extended upwards, but presently closed, and once more huddling together they he down on the ground, to remain until forced off by the tide. When the Skimmers repose on the shores of the mainland during high-water, they seldom continue long on the same spot, as if they felt doubtful of security; and a person watching them at such times might suppose that they were engaged in searching for food. No sooner has the dusk of evening arrived than the Skimmers begin to disperse, rise from their place of rest singly, in pairs, or in parties from three or four to eight or ten, apparently according to the degree of hunger they feel, and proceed in different directions along parts of the shores pre- viously known to them, sometimes going up tide-rivers to a considerable distance. They spend the whole night on wing, searching diligently for food. Of this I had ample and satisfactory proof when ascending the St. John river in East Florida, in the United States schooner Spark. The hoarse cries of the Skimmers never ceased more than an hour, so that I could easily know whether they were passing upwards or downwards in the BLACK SKIMMER. 69 dark. And this happened: too when I was at least a hundred miles from the mouth of the river. Being aware, previously to my several visits to the peninsula of the Floridas and other parts of our southern coasts where the Razor-bills are abundant, of the observations made on this species by M. Lusson, I paid all imaginable attention to them, always aided with an excellent glass, in order to find whether or not they fed on bivalve shell-fish found in the shallows of ‘sand-bars and other places at low water; but not in one single instance did I see any such occurrence, and in regard to this matter I agree with WiLson in asserting that, while with us, these birds do not feed on shell-fish. M. Lesson’s words are as follows:—“‘Quoique le Bec-en-ciseaux semble de- favorisé par la forme de son bec, nous acquimes la preuve qu’il savait s’en servir avec avantage et avec la plus grande adresse. Les plages sabloneuses de Peuce sont en effect remplies de Mactres, coquilles bivalves, que la marée descendente laisse presque 4 sec dans des petites mares; le Bec-en-ciseaux trés au fait de cet phenomene, se place aupres de ces mollusques, attend que leur valves s’entrouvrent un peu, et profite aussitot de ce movement en enforcant la lame inferieure et tranchante de son bec entre les valves qui se reserrent. L/’oiseaux enleve alors la coquille, la frappe sur la gréve, coupe le ligament du mollusque, et peut ensuite avaler celui-ci sans obstacle. Plusieurs fois nous avons été temoins de cet instinct trés perfectionné.”’ While watching the movements of the Black Skimmer as it was searching for food, sometimes a full hour before it was dark, I have seen it pass its lower mandible at an angle of about 45 degrees into the water, whilst its moveable upper mandible was elevated a little above the surface. In this manner, with wings raised and extended, it ploughed as it were, the element in which its quarry lay to the extent of several yards at a time, rising and falling alternately, and that as frequently as it thought it necessary for secur- ing its food when in sight of it; for I am certain that these birds never immerse their lower mandible until they have observed the object of their pursuit, for which reason their eyes are constantly directed downwards like those of Terns and Gannets. I have at times stood nearly an hour by the side of a small pond of salt water having a communication with the sea or a bay, while these birds would pass within a very few yards of me, then apparently quite regardless of my presence, and proceed fishing in the man- ner above described. Although silent at the commencement of their pursuit, they become noisy as the darkness draws on, and then give out their usual call notes, which resemble the syllables hurk, hurk, twice or thrice repeated at short intervals, as if to induce some of their companions to follow in their wake. I have seen a few of these birds glide in this manner in search of prey over a long salt-marsh bayou, or inlet, following the whole of its sinu- 70 BLACK SKIMMER. osities, now and then lower themselves to the water, pass their bill along the surface, and on seizing a prawn or a small fish, instantly rise, munch and swallow it on wing. While at Galveston Island, and in the company of my generous friend E»warp Harris and my son, I observed three Black Skim- mers, which having noticed a Night Heron passing over them, at once rose in the air, gave chase to it, and continued their pursuit for several hundred yards, as if intent on overtaking it. Their cries during this chase differed from their usual notes, and resembled the barkings of a very small dog. The flight of the Black Skimmer is perhaps more elegant than that of any water bird with which I am acquainted. The great length of its narrow wings, its partially elongated forked tail, its thin body and extremely com- pressed bill, all appear contrived to assure it that buoyancy of motion which one cannot but admire when he sees it on wing. It is able to maintain itself against the heaviest gale; and I believe no instance has been recorded of any bird of this species having been forced inland by the most violent storm. But, to observe the aérial movements of the Skimmer to the best advantage, you must visit its haunts in the love season. Several males, excited by the ardour of their desires, are seen pursuing a yet unmated female. The coy one, shooting aslant to either side, dashes along with marvellous speed, flying hither and thither, upwards, downwards, in all directions. Her suitors strive to overtake her; they emit their love-cries with vehemence; you are glad- dened by their softly and tenderly enunciated ha, ha, or the hack, hack, cae, cae, of the last in the chase. Like the female they all perform the most curious zigzags, as they follow in close pursuit, and as each beau at length passes her in succession, he extends his wings for an instant, and in a manner struts by her side. Sometimes a flock is seen to leave a sand-bar, and fly off in a direct course, each individual apparently intent on distancing his com- panions; and then their mingling cries of ha, ha, hack, hack, cae, cae, fill the air. I once saw one of these birds fly round a whole flock that had alighted, keeping at the height of about twenty yards, but now and then tumbling as if its wings had suddenly failed, and again almost upsetting, in the manner of the Tumbler Pigeon. On the 5th of May, 1837, I was much surprised to find a large flock of Skimmers alighted and apparently asleep, on a dry grassy part of the interior of Galveston Island in Texas, while I was watching some Marsh Hawks that were breeding in the neighbourhood. On returning to the shore, how- ever, I found that the tide was much higher than usual, in consequence of a recent severe gale, and had covered all the sand banks on which I had at other times observed them resting by day. The instinct or sagacity which enables the Razor-bills, after being scattered in all directions in quest of food during a long night, often at great distances BLACK SKIMMER. val from each other, to congregate again towards morning, previously to their alighting on a spot to rest, has appeared to me truly wonderful; and I have been tempted to believe that the place of rendezvous had been agreed upon the evening before. They have a great enmity towards Crows and Turkey Buzzards when at their breeding ground, and on the first appearance of these marauders, some dozens of Skimmers at once give chase to them, rarely desisting until quite out of sight. — : Although parties of these birds remove from the south to betake them- selves to the eastern shores, and breed there, they seldom arrive at Great Egg Harbour before the middle of May, or deposit their eges until a month after, or about the period when, in the Floridas and on the coast of Georgia and South Carolina, the young are hatched. To these latter sections of the country we will return, reader, to observe their actions at this interesting period. I will present you with a statement by my friend the Rev. Joun Bacuman, which he has inserted in my journal. ‘These birds are very abundant, and breed in great numbers on the sea islands at Bull’s Bay. Probably twenty thousand nests were seen at atime. The sailors collected an enormous number of their eggs. The birds screamed all the while, and whenever a Pelican or Turkey Buzzard passed near, they assailed it by hun- dreds, pouncing on the back of the latter, that came to rob them of their eggs, and pursued them fairly out of sight. They had laid on the dry sand, and the following morning we observed many fresh-laid eggs, when some had been removed the previous afternoon.”? Then, reader, judge of the deafening angry cries of such a multitude, and see them all over your head begging for mercy as it were, and earnestly urging you and your cruel sailors to retire and leave them in the peaceful charge of their young, or to settle on their lovely rounded eggs, should it rain or feel chilly. The Skimmer forms no other nest than a slight hollow in the sand. The eggs, I believe, are always three, and measure an inch and three quarters in length, an inch and three-eighths in breadth. As if to be assimilated to the colours of the birds themselves, they have a pure white ground, largely patched or blotched with black or very dark umber, with here and there a large spot of a light purplish tint. They are as good to eat as those of most Gulls, but inferior to the eggs of Plovers and other birds of that tribe. The young are clumsy, much of the same colour as the sand on which they lie, and are not able to fly until about six weeks, when you now perceive their resemblance to their parents. They are fed at first by the regurgitation of the finely macerated contents of the gullets of the old birds, and ultimately pick up the shrimps, prawns, small crabs, and fishes dropped before them. As soon as they are able to walk about, they cluster together in the manner of the young of the Common Gannet, and it is really marvellous how the 72 BLACK SKIMMER. parents can distinguish them individually on such occasions. ‘This bird walks in the manner of the Terns, with short steps, and the tail slightly elevated. When gorged and fatigued, both old and young birds are wont to lie flat on the sand, and extend their bills before them; and when thus repos- ing in fancied security, may sometimes be slaughtered in great numbers by the single discharge of a gun. When shot at while on wing, and brought to the water, they merely float, and are easily secured. If the sportsman is desirous of obtaining more, he may easily do so, as others pass in full clamour close over the wounded bird. Buiack SKIMMER or SHEAR-waTER, Rhynchops nigra, Wils. Amer. Orn., vol. vii. p. 85. Rurncors nigra, Bonap. Syn., p. 352. Brack Skimmer, Nutt. Man., vol. ii. p. 264. ; Brack Skimmer or Razor-BitLED SHEAR-WATER, Rhynchops nigra, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. iv. p. 203. Male, 20,48. Female, 162, 44. During winter, in vast multitudes on the coast of Florida. In summer dispersed in large flocks from Texas to New Jersey, breeding on sand beaches or islands. In the evenings and at night ascends streams sometimes to the distance of one hundred miles. ‘ Adult Male. Bill longer than the head, nearly straight, tetragonal at the base, suddenly extremely compressed, and continuing so to the end. Upper mandible much shorter than the lower, its dorsal outline very slightly convex, its ridge sharp, the sides erect, more or less convex, the edges approximated so as to leave merely a very narrow groove between them; the tip a little rounded when viewed laterally. Nasal groove rather short, narrow near the margin; nostrils linear-oblong, sub-basal in the soft membrane. Lower mandible with the angle extremely short, the dorsal outline straight or slightly de- curved, the sides erect, the edges united into a very thin blade which fits into the narrow groove of the upper mandible, the tip rounded or abrupt when viewed laterally. Head rather large, oblong, considerably elevated in front. Neck short and thick. Body short, ovate, and compact. Feet short, moderately stout; tibia bare below, with narrow transverse scutella before and behind; tarsus short, moderately compressed, anteriorly covered with broad scutella, reticu- lated on the sides and behind; toes very small; the first extremely short, and free; the inner much shorter than the outer, which is but slightly exceeded by the middle toe; the webs very deeply*concave at the margin, especially the inner. Claws long, compressed, taperigg, slightly arched, rather obtuse, the inner edge of the middle toe dilated and extremely thin. Plumage BLACK SKIMMER. 72 moderately full, soft, and blended; the feathers oblong and rounded. Wings extremely elongated, and very narrow; the primary quills excessively long; the first longest, the rest rapidly graduated; the secondaries short, broad, incurved, obliquely pointed, some of the inner more elongated. ail rather short, deeply forked, of twelve feathers, disposed in two inclined planes. Bill of a rich carmine, inclining to vermilion for about half its length, the rest black. Iris hazel. Feet of the same colour as the base of the bill, claws black. The upper parts are deep brownish-black; the secondary quills, and four or five of the primaries, tipped with white; the latter on their inner web chiefly. Tail-feathers black, broadly margined on both sides with white, the outer more extensively; the middle tail-coverts black, the lateral black on the inner and white on the outer web. A broad band of white over the forehead, extending to the fore part of the eye; cheeks and throat of the same colour; the rest of the neck and lower parts in spring and summer of a delicate cream-colour; axillary feathers, lower wing-coverts, and a large portion of the secondary quills, white; the coverts along the edge of the wing black. Length from point of upper mandible to end of tail 20 inches, to end of wings 244, to end of claws 17; to carpal joint 84; extent of wings 48; upper mandible 33; its edge 33; from base to point of lower mandible 44; depth of bill at the base 1; wing from flexure 153; tail to the fork 34; to end of longest feather 534; tarsus 14; hind toe and claw 74; middle toe +$, its claw 74. Weight 13 oz. The Female, which is smaller, is similar to the male, but with the tail- feathers white, excepting a longitudinal band including the shaft. Length to end of tail 162, to end of wings 20%, to end of claws 163, to carpus 8; extent of wings 444. Weight 10 oz. After the first autumnal moult there is on the hind part of the neck a broad band of white, mottled with greyish-black; the lower parts pure white, the upper of a duller black; the bill and feet less richly coloured. Length to end of tail, 162 inches, to end of wings 20, to end of claws 144, to carpus 63; extent of wings 42. In some individuals at this period the mandibles are of equal length. The palate is flat, with two longitudinal series of papille directed back- wards. The upper mandible is extremely contracted, having internally only avery narrow groove, into which is received the single thin edge of the lower mandible. The posterior aperture of the nares is 1,3, inches long, with a transverse line of papille at the middle on each side, and another behind. The tongue is sagittiform, 64 twelfths long, with two conical papillz at the base, soft, fleshy, flat above, horny beneath. Aperture of the glottis 4% twelfths long, with numerous small papillze behind. Lobes of the Vor. VII. 10 74 BLACK SKIMMER. liver equal, 14 inches long. The heart of moderate size, 1,5 long, 10 twelfths broad. im 4) sy | The cesophagus, of which only the lower portion, a, is seen in the figure, is 8 inches long, gradually contracts from a diameter of 1 inch to 4 twelfths, then enlarges until opposite the liver, where its greatest diameter is 154. . Its external transverse fibres are very distinct, as are the internal longitu- dinal. The proventriculus, 4, is 9 twelfths long, its glandules extremely small and numerous, round- ish, scarcely a quarter of a twelfth in length. The stomach, c, d, e, is rather small, oblong, 1 inch 4 twelfths long, 11 twelfths broad, muscular, with the lateral muscles moderate. ‘The cuticular lining of the stomach is disposed in nine broad longitudinal ruge of a light red colour, as in the smaller Gulls and Terns. Its lateral muscles are about 4 twelfths thick, the tendons, e, 6 twelfths in diameter. The intestine is 2 feet 4 inches long, its average diame- ter 24 twelfths. The rectum is 2 inches long. One of the ceca is 4, the other 3 twelfths, their diameter 14 twelfths. In another individual, the intestine is 224 inches long; the ceca 5 twelfths long, 1 twelfth in diameter; the rectum 1? inches long; the cloaca 9 twelfths in diameter. The trachea is 53 inches long, round, but not ossified, its diameter at the top 5 twelfths, contracting gradually to 24 twelfths. The lateral or con- tractor muscles are small; the sterno-tracheal slender; there is a pair of inferior laryngeals, going to the last ring of the trachea. _The number of rings is 90, and a large inferior ring. The bronchi are of moderate length, but wider, their diameter being 3} twelfths at the upper part; the number of their half-rings about 18. The digestive organs of this bird are precisely similar to those of the Terns and smaller Gulls, to which it is also allied by many of its habits. 79 Genus II.—STERNA, Zinn. TERN. Bill longer than the head, rather stout or slender, nearly straight, com- pressed, very acute; upper mandible with the dorsal line slightly arched, the ridge rather broad and convex at the base, gradually narrowed toward the end, sides convex, edges sharp and direct, tip acute; nasal groove short; lower mandible with the angle very narrow, acute, extending to the middle, the dorsal line straight, the sides slightly convex, nearly erect, the sharp edges inflected, the tips very acute. Nostrils basal, lateral, linear, direct. Head rather large, oblong; neck of moderate length and thick; body slender. Feet short, moderately stout; tibia bare for a considerable space; tarsus short, roundish, covered all round with small scales; first toe very small, third longest, fourth a little shorter; anterior toes connected by emarginate webs. Claws slightly curved, compressed, acute. Plumage soft, close, blended, rather compact on the back and wings. Wings extremely long, narrow, and pointed, the first quill longest, the rest rapidly graduated. Tail long, gene- rally forked, of twelve feathers. ‘Tongue very slender, tapering, with the point slit; cesophagus extremely wide; proventricular belt complete; stomach rather small, moderately muscular, with the epithelium dense and longitu- dinally rugous; intestine of moderate length, rather narrow; cceca small. Pe Pele ee vi 76 THE CAYENNE TERN. +STERNA CAYANA, Lath. PLATE CCCCXXIX.—Mate. On reaching the entrance of the little port of St. Augustine in Hast Florida, | observed more Cayenne Terns together than I had ever before seen. I had afterwards good opportunities of watching them both during that season and the following, about the Keys. Their shyness surprised me not a little, especially as they are very seldom molested, and it was such that I could study their habits only with the aid of a good glass. I found them at first in great flocks, composed of several hundred individuals, along with Razor-billed Shearwaters, which also congregated there in great num- bers. During low water, both species resorted to a large flat sand-bar in the middle of the channel, where they reposed until the return of the tide, sitting close together, in an easy posture, with their heads facing the breeze. They kept separate, however, placing themselves in parallel lines twenty or thirty paces asunder, and either lay flat on the sand, or stood up and plumed themselves. My attempts to procure some of them were always futile, for they flew off when I was yet several hundred yards distant, and moved directly towards the sea. It was pleasing to see the whole of these birds take to wing at the same moment, the jetty hue of the Shearwaters contrast- ing with the pale blue of the Terns, and the brilliantly-coloured bills of both species, their different modes of flight, and their various evolutions present- ing a most agreeable sight. The Terns on these occasions constantly emitted their harsh loud cries, while the Shearwaters moved in perfect silence. After spending several days in unsuccessful endeavours to approach them, I em- ployed several boats, which advanced towards the sands at several points, and we shot as many as we wished, for as the flocks passed over any of the boats, several individuals were brought down at once, on which the rest would assail the gunners, as if determined to rescue their brethren, and thus afford subjects for them on which to exercise their skill. We found it necessary to use large shot, the Cayenne Tern being a strong and tough bird, the largest of the genus met with on our Atlantic coasts. When wounded, however slightly, they disgorged in the manner of Vultures; and when brought to the water disabled, they at once endeavoured to make off from N° 86. OF Dratrn Lhort Nils e hy! 1 MUAUOAL RS KL Ss, Lithe Priced KOE * by TD Bower, TD alaa & THE CAYENNE TERN. vot the shores, swimming with buoyancy and grace, though without making much progress. When seized they at once erected their beautiful crest, threw up the contents of their stomach, uttered loud cries, and bit severely. One that was merely touched in the wing, and brought ashore, through a g, stuck fast to his nose until forced to relinquish its hold by having its throat squeezed, after which it disgorged high surf, by my Newfoundland do seven partially digested fishes. Although the Cayenne Tern often searches for food over the sea, and at times several miles from the shore, it gives a decided preference to the large inlets running parallel to the coast of the Floridas, within the high sandy embankments, as well as the rivers in the interior of the peninsula. They alight on the banks of racoon oysters, so abundant in the inlets, and are seen in company with the Semipalmated Snipe and the American Oystercatcher, searching for food like these birds, and devouring crabs and such fishes as are confined in small shallow pools. These they catch with considerable agility, in a manner not employed by any of our other Terns. While on the St. John’s river, I saw them alight on stakes, in the manner of the Marsh Tern and the Noddy; and as I ascended that stream, I often saw them, at the dis- tance of seventy miles from the sea, perched in the middle of the river, on the same sticks as the Florida Cormorants, and found them more easily approached in the dusk than during broad daylight. Until then I had sup- posed this species to be entirely oceanic, and averse from mingling with any other. / The flight of the Cayenne Tern is strong and well sustained, although less lively or graceful than that of the smaller species, excepting on particular occasions. They usually incline their bill downwards, as they search for their prey, like the other Terns, but keep at a much greater height, and - plunge towards the waters with the speed of an arrow, to seize on small fishes, of which they appear to capture a great number, especially of the “mullets,’? which we saw moving about in shoals, composed of individuals of different sizes. When travelling, these birds generally proceed in lines; and it requires the power of a strong gale to force them back, or even to impede their progress, for they beat to windward with remarkable vigour, rising, falling, and tacking to right and left, so as to seize every possible opportunity of making their way. In calm and pleasant weather, they pass at a great height, with strong unremitted flappings, uttering at intervals their cries, which so nearly resemble the shrieking notes of our little Parrakeet, that I have often for a moment thought I heard the latter, when in fact it was only the Tern. At times their cries resemble the syllables kewee-reek, repeated several times in succession, and so loudly as to be heard at the dis- tance of half a mile or more, especially when they have been disturbed at a SS ht 78 | THE CAYENNE TERN. » + their breeding places, on which occasion they manifest all the characteristic — violence of their tribe, although they are much more guarded than any other species with which I am acquainted, and generally keep at a considerable distance from their unwelcome visiters. On the 11th of May, 1832, I found the Cayenne Terns breeding on one of the Tortugas. There they had dropped their eggs on the bare sand, a few yards above high-water mark, and none of the birds paid much attention to them during the heat of the day. You may judge of my surprise when, on meeting with this Tern breeding on the coast of Labrador, on the 18th of June, 1833, I found it sitting on two eggs deposited in a nest neatly formed of moss and placed on the rocks, and this on a small island, in a bay more than twelve miles from our harbour, which itself was at some distance from the open Gulf. On another equally sequestered islet, some were found amidst a number of nests of our Common Gull; and, during my stay in that country, I observed that this Tern rarely went to the vicinity of the outer coast, for the purpose of procuring food, probably because there was an extreme abundance of small fishes of several kinds in every creek or bay. Until that period I was not aware that any Tern could master the Lestris Pomarinus, to which, however, I there saw the Cayenne Tern give chase, driving it away from the islands on which it had its eggs. On such occa- sions, I observed that the Tern’s power of flight greatly exceeded that of the Jager; but the appearance of the Great Black-backed Gull never failed to fill it with dismay, for although of quicker flight, none of the Terns dared to encounter that bird, any more than they would venture to attack the Frigate Pelican in the Floridas. The Cayenne Tern usually lays two eggs; in a few instances I found only one, and I concluded that no more had been laid, as it contained a chick, which would not have been there had the Great Gull ever visited the nest. The eggs measure two inches and six-eighths in length, by one inch and six and a half eighths in breadth, and are rather sharp at the smaller end. They have a pale yellowish ground colour, irregularly spotted with dark umber and faint purplish marks, dispersed all over but not close. The eggs, like those of the other species, afford good eating. I never saw the young of this bird while small, and cannot speak of the changes which they undergo from their first state until autumn. Then, however, they greatly resemble the young of the Sandwich Tern, their colour being on the upper parts of a dark greyish-brown, transversely marked with umber, and on the lower dull white. While in this plumage, they keep by themselves, in flocks of fifty or more individuals, and remain separated from the old birds until spring, when they have acquired the full beauty of their plumage, although they appear rather inferior in size. THE CAYENNE TERN. 79 My surprise at finding this species breeding in Labrador was increased by the circumstance of its being of rare occurrence at any season along the coasts of our Middle and Hastern Districts. Nor does it become abundant until you reach the shores of North Carolina, beyond which it increases the farther south you proceed. It winters in the Floridas, and along the shores of the Mexican Gulf; but I never saw it far up the Mississippi. While on the coast of Newfoundland, on the 14th of August, I saw several individuals on their way southward, flying very high, and keeping up their remarkable eries. The flesh of every species of Tern is oily, like that of the Gulls and Jagers, and the smallest hole made by shot affords an exit to the grease, which is apt to destroy the beauty of their elastic plumage, so that it is very dificult to preserve them, both on account of this circumstance, and of the quantity of oil that flows from their bill. In no species have I found this to be more remarkably the case than in the Cayenne Tern. The figure of the erad in the plate was introduced on account of its singularly bright red colour, which, when the animal is boiled, changes to pale yellow. It is rather common along the rocky shores of some of the Florida Keys, and is excellent eating. STERNA CAYANA, Bonap. Syn., vol. ii. p. 353. Cayenne Tern, Nutt. Man., vol. ii. p. 208. CayENNE TERN, Sterna cayana, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. iii. p. 505; vol. v. p. 639. Male, 19, 44. From Texas, in spring, to the Floridas, where it breeds on the Tortugas. Labrador, but not observed in the intermediate parts of the Atlantic coast. Abundant. Migratory. Adult Male in spring. Bill longer than the head, stout, nearly straight, compressed, very acute. Upper mandible with the dorsal line slightly arched, the ridge broad and convex at the base, narrowed towards the end, the sides convex, the edges sharp and direct, the tip acute. Nasal groove short; nostrils basal, lateral, linear, direct, pervious. Lower mandible with the angle very narrow, acute, extending to the middle, the dorsal line straight, the sides slightly convex, nearly erect, the sharp edges inflected, the tip very acute. Head rather large, oblong; neck of moderate length and thick; body rather slender; feet short, stout. Tibia bare for a considerable space; tarsus short, roundish, covered all round with small scales; first toe very small, third longest, fourth a little shorter, the anterior connected by reticulated webs having an incurved margin; claws slightly curved, compressed, acute, 80 THE CAYENNE TERN. that of hind toe smallest, of middle toe by much the largest, and having the inner edge thin and dilated. Plumage soft, close, blended, very short on the fore part of the head, elongated behind, rather compact on the back and wings. Wings extremely long, narrow, and pointed; primary quills tapering but rounded, the first longest, the rest rapidly graduated; secondary short, rather narrow, tapering, rounded. ‘Tail long, deeply forked, of twelve feathers, of which the outer taper to a rounded point. Bill bright carmine, the tips paler. Iris dark brown. Feet black. The top of the head and occiput is greenish-black; the back and wings light greyish-blue; the primary quills bluish-grey on their outer webs, darker on the outer part of the inner, their inner part white, as are the ends and inner webs of the secondaries; upper tail-coverts and tail greyish-white; all the other parts are pure white. Length to end of tail 19 inches, to end of wings 203; extent of wings 44; wing from flexure 15; tail 7; bill along the back 22, along the edge of lower mandible 143; tarsus 32;; middle toe 1, its claw $. Weight 144 oz. The width of the mouth is 14 inches; the palate flat, with 2 prominent papillate ridges, the anterior part with five faint elevated lines; the posterior aperture of the nares linear, 14 inches long, margined with papille. Tongue 1 inch 11 twelfths long, narrow, fleshy above, horny beneath, channelled, and tapering to a slit horny point. Qssophagus 9 inches long, at its com- mencement 1 inch 9 twelfths wide, presently after 1} inches, then contracting to 14 inches, and within the thorax enlarging to 13 inches. In its form and structure it is exactly similar to that of the Gulls. The stomach is of mode- rate size, 2 inches long, 1 inch 9 twelfths broad; its lateral muscles rather thin; the epithelium thin but very dense, longitudinally rugous, and of a bright red colour. The proventricular glands, which are very numerous and small, form a belt only 7 twelfths in breadth. The lobes of the liver are unequal, the right 24 twelfths, the left 24 twelfths in length; the gall-_ bladder 8 twelfths long, 44 twelfths broad. The intestine measures 34 inches in length, 6 twelfths in width at the upper part, contracting to 3 twelfths. Cceca 4% twelfths long, 2 twelfths wide; their distance from the extremity only 24 inches; rectum 4 twelfths wide, but enlarging into a globular cloaca 10 twelfths in diameter. The trachea is 64 inches long, very wide at the top, where it measures 6 twelfths, gradually diminishing to 3 twelfths; its rings unossified, very feeble, contracted before and behind, in the middle being 112 in number. Bronchi large, one with 28, the other with 30 half rings. The muscles exactly as in the Gulls. In the esophagus, stomach, and intestine, this bird, as well as the other eotahisiy PIAL, ant No Ob. PLEO. C J? ED Z ae Gill tlled Jum Warah Serr Vey / 2 ~ TELL vebaditre bel T Baller hl SHLS Trided Red *8y-F TF Baw Fad = MARSH TERN. 81 Terns, is precisely similar to the smaller Gulls, as it is also in the form, structure, and muscles of the trachea. In these respects, the Terns also resemble the Shearwater. The bill of the Cayenne Tern evidently indicates an affinity to the Phaetons, and in a less degree to the Gannets, as does the head, which is very large in proportion to the bird. On the other hand, as regards the bill, the affinity is to the larger Gulls and the Shearwater. ‘The feet resemble those of the Gulls, but are proportionally smaller, these birds being more volatorial, and the Gulls combining that character with an affinity to the wading birds, while the Shearwater exhibits the abbreviated feet of the purely flying birds in a still greater degree. MARSH OR GULL-BILLED TERN. +SrerRNA ANGLICA, Montagu. PLATE CCCCXXX.—Mate. Having taken six specimens of the Marsh Tern of America to the British Museum, and minutely compared them in all their details with the speci- mens of the Gull-billed Tern which formed part of the collection of Colonel Montagu, and were procured in the south of England, I found them to agree so perfectly that no doubt remained with me of the identity of the bird loosely described by Wixson with that first distinguished by the Eng- lish ornithologist. I have shot several Marsh Terns out of the same flock, in the early part of spring, when the youngest must therefore have been nearly a year old, and found them all equally perfect and beautiful in their plumage, but differ- ing considerably in the length of their bills, tarsi, toes, and wings, inso- much that a person bent on forming new species might easily gratify his inclination by founding “specific characters”? on differences, which, how- ever, would be merely those of males and females of different ages. With me the habits of birds, when minutely and faithfully described, go much farther to establish the identity of individuals found in the different parts of the globe, than the best and closest descriptions of prepared skins. Colonel Monracéu informs us that the Gull-billed Tern, Sterna anglica, resorts by Vou. VIL. 11 82 MARSH TERN. . preference to lakes and rivers of the interior; and Mr. Srxsy states, that “on the European continent it frequents the marshes and the lakes of Neusidel and Platten in Hungary.’”? The same naturalist also says: “Upon investigating specimens from North America, I feel no hesitation in con- sidering the Marsh Tern of Wixson’s North American Ornithology to be the same bird, although Mr. Orp (in his eighth volume of that work) is in- clined to regard it as distinct, in consequence of some difference between the length of the bill and tarsi, as expressed in a drawing of Sterna aranea that he examined, and the proportions of those parts in the first species as given by Monracu and TEmMMiIncK.”’ Now, reader, allow me to lay before you an account of the habits of the Marsh Tern, a figure of an adult individual selected from among three shot within afew hours of each other, and the measurements of several recent birds. You may then judge whether or not our bird is that described by Montagu. The Marsh Tern is pretty abundant about the salt-marshes of the mouths of the Mississippi in the beginning of April; and by following the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, you will find that it comes to us from beyond Texas, as many make their appearance along that coast in a straggling manner during spring, there being seldom more than half a dozen together, and generally only two. Their journeys are performed over the waters of the sea, a few hundred yards from the shore; and when in want of food, they diverge from their ordinary course, and ranging over the land satisfy their hunger, when they resume their route. Excepting the Cayenne Tern, I know no American species that has so powerful a flight as the present. To this power is added an elegant light- ness that renders it most conspicuous and pleasing during the love season. Then “the happy pair’’ are seen to rise in elegant circling sweeps, almost in the manner of Hawks, and only a few feet apart, until they attain a height of about two hundred yards, when they come close together, and then glide with extended pinions through the air, the male over the female, both emit- ting tender and plaintive notes, while they vary their evolutions at the same height for five or six minutes. After this the winged lovers separate, plunge towards the earth with wonderful rapidity, resume their ordinary notes, and seek for food in concert. The usual cry of these birds is rough, sharp, dis- tinguishable at a considerable distance, and often repeated as if to assure each other that they are near. When an accident happens to the female during the breeding season, her mate manifests a most affectionate concern; but the female in such a case acts differently.. On shooting several males on various occasions, whether they were killed outright, or fell wounded on the earth or the water, I observed that the female would only take a round as she rose MARSH TERN. 93 above the reach of shot, and move off at once to some considerable distance; but when the female dropped, if on the water, the male would plunge head-_ long toward her, and alighting by her side, would do all in his power to aid her in swimming or flying off. If she fell on the ground, he would alight there, and exhibit the same marks of anxious care, thus affording to the gunner the best possible opportunity of destroying him. The Marsh Tern swims buoyantly but not swiftly, and when wounded does not attempt to dive, but when taken in the hand bites rather severely, though without uttering cries, in which latter respect it differs from the other species. Whilst travelling or inspecting the pools of the marshes, or the bayous intersecting them, it passes at a considerable height with quickly repeated movements of the wings, and when looking for food, it darts through the air and slides toward the waters, as if about to dive for fish. I have observed them coming over large mud-flats and marshes to bayous, apparently for the latter purpose; but I believe that these birds never im- merse themselves in the water, as other Terns are wont to do; nor do I think that they procure fish, as, on examining a number of individuals near the mouths of the Mississippi, in Texas, and at Great Egg Harbour, I never found any other food in their stomachs than insects of various kinds, includ- ing coleoptera, which were unknown to me. In many instances, when near the places first mentioned, my friend Enywarp Harris and myself saw them catching insects on wing over a small pond of almost putrid water, the surface of which was entirely covered witha thick green layer of water- plants. The same manner of procuring food was observed over the dry land at Barataria, where they seized insects by diving as it were close to the ground and again rising to a considerable height. Their plunges were per- formed with great velocity, generally by the males and females alternately. In two or three instances, I have seen some of these birds plunge towards the water at sea, but always close on the shore, and have supposed that when insects are scarce on the land, particularly during their migration southward, they may be forced to feed upon fish; but this is merely a supposition, in support of which I have no fact to offer. I look upon what has been said as to their feeding along the sea-shores “almost exclusively on strand birds and ?? as ridiculous and absurd. their eggs, On the 24th of May I observed this species mastered and driven from its feeding grounds by the King-birds, Muscicapa Tyrannus, and the Martins, Hiirundo purpurea. I am inclined to believe that these birds migrate in the same manner as many of our terrestrial species, that is, the females first, by themselves, and afterwards the males. The Marsh Tern deposits its three eggs on the dried rushes found in the salt marshes at a short distance from the water, and carefully placed beyond 84 MARSH TERN. reach of any ordinary encroachment of the tides; for, as Wixson has truly said, this species forms no nest. The eggs differ considerably in their mark- ings. They are generally an inch and three-quarters in length, an inch and half an eighth in breadth, smooth, of a greenish or olivaceous tint, largely marked with irregular splashes of dark umber, almost black, disposed around the broadest part, leaving the apex with only a few small dots of the same colour, similar dots being as sparingly dispersed toward the smaller end, which falls off toward the extremity, and is there gently rounded. The parents sit more upon them than is usual with Terns which drop their eggs on the sands, and they do not leave their charge in cloudy weather. The young have the bill of a dull reddish orange-brown colour, the legs and feet of a less deep tint of the latter colour, which is retained by them until late in the winter, when these parts become black, and so continue for life. The Marsh Tern does not extend its migrations eastward along our shores beyond New England; which will be understood by those who know, that in a continued direction the rocky shores afford them no place in which they could obtain food. But, from what I know of the extraordinary power of flight of this bird, I am not at all surprised at its being found in HUrepes any more than I should be to find it cosmopolitan. ie I here present the different measurements carefully taken from fresh birds of only four pairs, all shot in spring, and in full plumage, although of different ages. Wu ison’s measurements are as follows: “fourteen inches in length, and thirty-four in extent.’’ M. BM ee NE. 5a Mieke Length to end of tail, » 438 - 142.014) 132.134. .13%, 14 ae Payoh o's otis claws,...s; Tle dees 92. 112 12k 13) ere lal 5 6 bee eee Wings, - 14a 15 154 144 144 13% 152 142 Rixtent.of wings,.... .,-. 833.342 342.33) 34 .34../ 35%) 35 OU itesU SMat igen ata css facie Oss aie 14 14 1 134 1 12 ie The weight of the four male birds was 63 0z., 52, 62, 74. The females were quite as heavy. Marsu Tern, Sterna aranea, Wils. Amer. Orn., vol. viii. p. 143. STERNA ARANEA, Bonap. Syn., p. 354. Marsa Tern, Sterna angelica, Nutt. Man., vol. ii. p. 269. Marsu or GuLL-BILLep Tern, Sterna anglica, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. v. p. 127. Male, 14, 34. Cosmopolite. In America, breeds from the mouth of the Mississippi to Connecticut. Not abundant. Migratory. Adult Male in summer. Bill about the length of the head, rather stout, compressed, acute. Upper MARSH TERN. 85 mandible with the dorsal line nearly straight to the anterior edge of the nostrils, then arcuato-declinate, the ridge rather broad and rounded at the base, narrowed toward the end; the sides sloping at the base, nearly erect and convex toward the end, the edges sharp and inflected, the tip although narrow somewhat obtuse. Nasal groove comparatively short; nostrils basal, oblong, direct, pervious. Lower mandible with the angle very narrow and acute, extending to beyond the middle, the outline of the crura a little con- cave, that of the rest ascending and straight, a prominence or angle being formed at their junction as in Gulls, the sides erect and slightly convex, the edges sharp and inclinate, the tip acute, the gap line straight for half its length, then slightly arcuato-declinate. Head of moderate size, ovate; neck of moderate length; body slender. Feet small; tibia bare for nearly half an inch; tarsus very short, compressed, anteriorly scutellate; toes small, slender; the first extremely small, the third longest, the fourth considerably shorter; all scutellate above, the anterior connected by reticulated webs, of which the inner is more deeply emargi- nate. Claws a little arched, compressed, very slender, that of the middle toe much larger, and having its inner edge somewhat dilated. Plumage soft, close, blended, very short on the fore part of the head. Wings very long, narrow, and pointed; primary quills tapering to an obtuse point; the first longest, the second ten and a half twelfths of an inch shorter, the rest rapidly graduated; secondaries short, incurved, obliquely rounded, some of the inner proportionally longer and narrower. ‘Tail of moderate length, forked, of twelve feathers, of which the middle are rounded and an inch and seven-twelfths shorter than the outer, which tapers to a narrow but obtuse point. Bill black, as are the feet. Iris brown. The upper part of the head, the nape, and part of the hind neck, deep black; sides of the head, including a line margining the base of the upper mandible, fore neck, and all the lower parts white; upper parts pale greyish-blue; the edges of the wings whitish; the primary quills hoary on the outer web, deep grey on the inner, but with a large portion toward the base lighter, the shafts and those of the tail- feathers white; the tail is of a paler tint than the back, and the outer feather is nearly white. Length to end of tail 14 inches; extent of wings 34; bill along the ridge 1%, along the edge of lower mandible 275; wing from flexure 1274; tail to end of middle feather 3;4, to end of lateral feather 413; tarsus 14; first toe 2, its claw 24; middle toe 12, its claw 4%. A female from the mouths of the Mississippi, April 1,1837. On the roof of the mouth are three longitudinal ridges; the posterior aperture of the nares is linear, with an anterior slit; the tongue slender, tapering, 1 inch 2 Vou. VIL. 12 a Ae fet 86. i CG (( Nv \ \ \ \ WANK \\ \\ \ \ Xi } \ \ \ W mM \\\ \ TIN \ \ \ \\\\ AN ) | ZEEE \\\"\ \\\\ \\\\"\' N \ \\ MARSH TERN. twelfths long, papillate at the base, the outer papilla on each side larger, the tip sharp and horny. The eso- phagus, @ 6 c, is 5 inches long, very wide, its greatest diameter 9 twelfths. The stomach, ec d e, is oblong, 1 inch 2 twelfths in length, 10 twelfths in breadth; its lateral muscles moderate. Its contents are coleopterous and hy- menopterous insects, together with small crabs. The epithelium is thick, strong, prominently rugous, of a red- dish-brown colour, and exactly re- sembling that of the smaller Gulls. . The proventricular glandules are very small, and form a belt $ inch in breadth. The intestine, f g A 2, which is 1 foot 8 inches long, is wide, its average diameter being 44 twelfths. The cceca, which come off at the dis- tance of 2 inches from the anus, are very small, being 3 twelfths long, and 1 twelfth in diameter. The trachea is 4 inches 2 twelfths long, at the upper part 4 twelfths in breadth, gradually contracting to 14 twelfths. The rings, about 110, are feeble and unossified. The bronchial rings are about 20. The contractor muscle is so thin as to be scarcely perceptible; the sterno-tracheal ex- tremely slender. There is a single pair of inferior laryngeal muscles. The stomach of another female contains the remains of crustaceous animals, one of which, nearly entire, is a small roundish crab, 11 twelfths in breadth. " 5 { VL ef WOOL L4G POD IP PHIL YI] ; WY STA SETA Ub GPM, LPL AG LM POY? Bet Ont, UMD *YOP ACHILLE? 2 Zo?) Deca iat 87 THE SANDWICH TERN. +STERNA CANTIACA, Gmel. PLATE CCCCXXXI.—Aputr. On the 26th of May, 1832, while sailing along the Florida Keys in Mr. Turuston’s barge, accompanied by his worthy pilot and my assistant, I observed a large flock of Terns, which, from their size and other circum- stances, I would have pronounced to be Marsh Terns, had not the difference in their manner of flight convinced me that they were of a species hitherto unknown to me. The pleasure which one feels on such an occasion cannot easily be described, and all that it is necessary for me to say on the subject at present is, that I begged to be rowed to them as quickly as possible. A nod and a wink from the pilot satisfied me that no time should be lost, and in a few minutes all the guns on board were in requisition. The birds fell around us; but as those that had not been injured remained hovering over their dead and dying companions, we continued to shoot until we procured a very considerable number. On examining the first individual picked up from the water, I perceived from the yellow point of its bill that it was different from any that I had previously seen, and accordingly shouted “A prize! a prize! a new bird to the American Fauna!’? And so it was, good reader, for no person before had found the Sandwich Tern on any part of our coast. A large basket was filled with them, and we pursued our course. On opening several individuals, I found in the females eggs nearly ready for being laid. The males, too, manifested the usual symptoms of increased action in the organs distinctive of the sex. I felt a great desire to discover their breeding grounds, which I had the pleasure of doing in a few days after. The vigour and activity of this bird while on wing afforded me great pleasure. Indeed its power of flight exceeds that of the Marsh Tern, which I consider as a closely allied species. While travelling, it advances by regular sharp flappings of its wings, which propel it forward much in the manner of the Passenger Pigeon, when, single and remote from a flock, it pushes on with redoubled speed. While plunging after the small mullets and other diminutive fishes that form the principal part of its food, it darts perpendicularly downwards with all the agility and force of the Common 88 THE SANDWICH TERN. and Arctic Terns, nearly immersing its whole body at times, but rising instantly after, and quickly regaining a position from which it can adyan- tageously descend anew. Should the fish disappear, as the bird is descend- ing, the latter instantly recovers itself without plunging into the water. Its cries are sharp, grating, and loud enough to be heard at the distance of half a mile. They are repeated at intervals while it is travelling, and kept up incessantly when one intrudes upon it in its breeding grounds, on which occasion it sails and dashes over your head, chiding you with angry notes more disagreeable than pleasant to your ear. How many days these birds had been laying, when I discovered the key on which they breed, I cannot say; but many of them were still engaged in depositing their eggs, and none were as yet sitting on those which, being three together, seemed to form the full complement. They had been dropped on the sand, at short intervals, with scarcely any appearance of a hollow for their reception. In some instances they were laid at the foot of a scanty tuft of grass; but all were fully exposed to the heat of the sun, which at this time I thought almost sufficient to cook them. The eggs varied as much in colour as those of the Arctic Tern and Foolish Guillemot, and were equally disproportionate to the size of the bird, their average length being two inches and one-eighth, their greatest breadth one inch and three and a half eighths. They are of an oval form, but rather sharp at the larger end. The ground colour is yellowish-grey, varying in depth, and all more or less spotted, blotched, or marked with different tints of umber, pale blue, and reddish. I may add that these eggs are most capital eating. I never saw the Sandwich Tern on any other portion of our coasts than between the Florida Keys and Charleston, and from whence it first came there, or how it went thence to Europe, is an enigma which may perhaps never be solved. On asking the wreckers if they had been in the habit of ; seeing these birds, they answered in the affirmative, and added that they paid them pretty frequent visits during the breeding season, on account of their eggs as well as of the young, which, when nearly able to fly, they said were also good eating. According to their account, this species spends the whole winter near and upon the keys, and the young keep separate from the old birds. Sanpwicu Tern, Nutt. Man., vol. ii. p. 276. SanpwicH Tern, Sterna cantiaca, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. iii. p. 531. Adult, 153, 333. From Texas, during spring and summer, to the Floridas, where it breeds THE SANDWICH TERN. 89 in great numbers. Never observed in any other part of the coast of America. Migratory. Adult Male. Bill longer than the head, slender, tapering, compressed, nearly straight, very acute. Upper mandible with the dorsal line slightly arched, the ridge rather broad at the base, very narrow towards the tip, the sides sloping at the base, slightly convex and nearly perpendicular towards the end, the edges sharp and inflected, the tip very acute. Nasal groove extending to a little beyond the middle of the bill and deflected towards its edge; nostrils basal, linear, direct, pervious. Lower mandible with the angle very narrow and acute, extending nearly to the middle, the dorsal line beyond it straight, the sides convex, towards the end more erect, the ridge very narrow, the tip extremely acute. Head of moderate size, oblong; neck of moderate length; body slender. Feet very small; tibia bare for a considerable space; tarsus very short, anteriorly scutellate, laterally and behind reticulated; toes small, slender, the first extremely small, the third longest, the fourth about the same length, the second much shorter, all scutellate above, the anterior connected by reticulated webs of which the margins are deeply concave. Claws arched, compressed, acute, that of hind toe very small, of middle toe by much the largest, and having the inner edge thin and dilated. Plumage soft, close, blended, very short on the fore part of the head; the feathers on the occiput and upper part of hind neck pointed and elongated. Wings very long, narrow and pointed; primary quills tapering, the outer slightly curved inwards at the end, the first longest, the rest rapidly graduated; secondary short, broad, incurved, rounded, the inner propor- tionally longer and narrower. ‘Tail rather long, deeply forked, of twelve feathers, the outer tapering to a point. Bill black, excepting the tips, which are yellow; inside of the mouth deep blue. Iris brown. Feet black. The upper part of the head, occiput and part of hind neck bluish-black. Sides of the head, neck all round, and the rest of the lower parts white, the breast frequently tinged with pink. The fore part of the back, the scapulars and the upper surface of the wings pale greyish-blue; the tips and the greater parts of the inner webs of the scapulars, and quills, white, as are the rump and the tail; the four outer quills blackish, but covered with light grey down, on the outer webs and over a considerable extent of the inner, their shafts white. Length to end of tail 153 inches, to end of wings 16,8; to end of claws 12%; extent of wings 333; wing from flexure 124; tail 6; bill along the back 24, along the edge of lower mandible 212; tarsus 1,4; middle toe 24, its claw qz- Weight 64 oz. Vor, Vit 1 ive) 90 : THE SOOTY TERN. The Female is similar to the male. . The young, after the first moult, are of a light greyish-blue colour on the upper parts, the feathers tipped and banded in an undulating manner with brownish-black; the upper part of the head and the hind neck are of the latter colour, but mottled with white. The quills are as in the adult, the tail grey, with irregular brownish-black markings towards the tips of the feathers. The lower parts are also pale grey, but much lighter than the upper. The bill and feet are black, but the tip of the former has not yet assumed a yellow tint. THE SOOTY TERN. + STERNA FULIGINOSA, Lath. PLATE CCCCXXXII.—Mate. Early in the afternoon of the 9th of May, 1832, I was standing on the deck of the United States revenue-cutter Marion. The weather was very beautiful, although hot, and a favourable breeze wafted us onwards in our course. Captain Roperr Day, who stood near me, on looking toward the south-west, ordered some person to be sent to the top to watch the appearance of land. A young lad was instantly seen ascending the rigging, and not many minutes after he had attained his post, we heard from him the ery of “land.’”? It was the low keys of the Tortugas, toward which we had been steering. No change was made in the course of the “Lady of the Green Mantle,’ who glided along as if aware of the knowledge possessed by her commander. Now the light-house lantern appeared, like a bright gem glittering in the rays of the sun. Presently the masts and flags of several wreckers shewed us that they were anchored in the small but safe harbour. We sailed on, and our active pilot, who was also the first lieutenant of the Marion, pointed out to me a small island which he said was at this season the resort of thousands of birds, which he described by calling them “Black and White Sea Swallows,’’ and again another islet, equally well stocked with another kind of Sea Swallow, which he added were called Noddies, because they frequently alighted on the yards of vessels at night, and slept there. INS 87 6 P] 4:39 OA, C7Pe Draws Lon Nalure bf 77 PUdM«OH LES FAS. Uh Priatled & C08" be I LA THE SOOTY TERN. 91 He assured me that both species were on their respective breeding-grounds by millions, that the eggs of the first lay on the sand under bushes, at intervals of about a foot, while the nests of the last were placed as thickly on the bushes of their own chosen island. “Before we cast anchor,’’ he added, “you will see them rise in swarms like those of bees when disturbed in their hive, and their cries will deafen you.”’ You may easily imagine how anxious I was to realize the picture; I expressed a wish to be landed on the island; but the kind officer replied, “My good sir, you will soon be tired of their incessant noise and numbers, and will enjoy the procuring of Boobies much better.’’ After various tacks, we made our way through the curious and extremely dangerous channels leading to the small harbour, where we anchored. As the chain grated the ear, I saw a cloud-like mass arise over the “ Bird Key,”’ from which we were only a few hundred yards distant; and in a few minutes the yawl was carry- ing myself and my assistant ashore. On landing, I felt fora moment as if the birds would raise me from the ground, so thick were they all round, and so quick the motion of their wings. Their cries were indeed deafening, yet not more than half of them took to wing on our arrival, those which rose being chiefly male birds, as we afterwards ascertained. We ran across the naked beach, and as we entered the thick cover before us, and spread in different directions, we might at every step have caught a sitting bird, or one scrambling through the bushes to escape from us. Some of the sailors, who had more than once been there before, had provided themselves with sticks, with which they knocked down the birds as they flew thick around and over them. In less than half an hour, more than a hundred Terns lay dead in a heap, and a number of baskets were filled to the brim with eggs. We then returned on board, and declined disturbing the rest any more that night. My assistant, Mr. H. Warp, of London, skinned upwards of fifty specimens, aided by Captain Day’s servant. The sailors told me that the birds were excellent eating, but on this point I cannot say much in corrobo- ration of their opinion, although I can safely recommend the eggs, for I considered them delicious, in whatever way cooked, and during our stay at the Tortugas we never passed a day without providing ourselves with a good quantity of them. The next morning Mr. Warp told me that great numbers of the Terns left their island at two o’clock, flew off towards the sea, and returned a little before day, or about four o’clock. This I afterwards observed to be regularly the case, unless there happened to blow a gale, a proof that this species sees as well during the night as by day, when they also go to sea in search of food for themselves and their young. In this respect they differ from the Sterna stolida, which, when overtaken at sea by darkness, even when land 92 THE SOOTY TERN. is only a few miles distant, alight on the water, and frequently on the yards of vessels, where, if undisturbed, they sleep until the return of day. It is from this circumstance that they have obtained the name of Noddy, to which in fact they are much better entitled than the present species, which has also been so named, but of which I never observed any to alight ona vessel in which I was for thirty-five days in the Gulf of Mexico, at a time when that bird was as abundant during the day as the other species, of which many were caught at my desire by the sailors. The present species rarely alights on the water, where it seems incom- moded by its long tail; but the other, the Sterna stolida, which, in the shape of its tail, and-in some of its habits, shews an affinity to the Petrels, not only frequently alights on the sea, but swims about on floating patches of the gulf weed, seizing on the small fry and little crabs that are found among the branches of that plant, or immediately beneath them. I have often thought, since I became acquainted with the habits of the bird which here occupies our attention, that it differs materially from all the other species of the same genus that occur on our coasts. The Sterna Suliginosa never dives headlong and perpendicularly as the smaller species are wont to do, such as St. Hirundo, St. arctica, St. minuta, St. Dougallii, or St. nigra, but passes over its prey in a curved line, and picks it up. Its action [ cannot better compare to that of any other bird than the Night Hawk, while plunging over its female. I have often observed this Tern follow and hover in the wake of a porpoise, while the latter was pursuing its prey, and at the instant when by a sudden dash it frightens and drives toward the surface the fry around it, the Tern as suddenly passes over the spot, and picks up a small fish or two. Nor is the flight of this Tern characterized by the buoyancy and unde- cidedness, if I may so speak, of the other species mentioned above, it being as firm and steady as that of the Cayenne Tern, excepting during the movemenis performed in procuring its food. Like some of the smaller Gulls, this bird not unfrequently hovers close to the water to pick up floating objects, such as small bits of fat pork and greasy substances thrown over- board purposely for making the experiment. There is a circumstance connected with the habits of the two species of which I now more particularly speak, which, although perhaps somewhat out of place, I cannot refrain from introducing here. It is that the Sterna stolida always forms a nest on trees or bushes, on which that bird alights with as much ease as a Crow or Thrush; whereas the Sterna fuliginosa never forms a nest of any sort, but deposits its eggs in a slight cavity which it scoops in the sand under the trees. But, reader, let us return to the Bird Key. THE SOOTY TERN. 93 Early the next morning I was put on shore, and remained there until I had completed my observations on the Terns. I paid no attention to their lamentable cries, which were the less piercing that on this occasion I did not molest them in the least. Having seated myself on the shelly sand, which here formed the only soil, I remained almost motionless for several hours, in consequence of which the birds alighted about me, at the distance of only a few yards, so that I could plainly see with what efforts and pains the younger females deposited their eggs. Their bill was open, and their pantings indicated their distress, but after the egg had been expelled, they imme- diately walked off in an awkward manner, until they reached a place where they could arise without striking the branches of the bushes near them, when they flew away. Here and there, in numerous places within twenty yards of me, females, having their complement of eggs, alighted, and quietly commenced the labour of incubation. Now and then a male bird also settled close by, and immediately disgorged a small fish within the reach of the female. After some curious reciprocal nods of their heads, which were doubtless intended as marks of affection, the caterer would fly off. Several individuals, which had not commenced laying their eggs, I saw: scratch the sand with their feet, in the manner of the common fowl, while searching for food. In the course of this operation, they frequently seated themselves in the shallow basin to try how it fitted their form, or find out what was still wanted to ensure their comfort. Not the least semblance of a quarrel did I observe between any two of these interesting creatures; indeed, they all appeared as if happy members of a single family; and as if to gratify my utmost wishes, a few of them went through the process of courtship in my presence. The male birds frequently threw their heads over their back as it were, in the manner of several species of Gulls; they also swelled out their throats, walked round the females, and ended by uttering a soft puffing sound as they caressed them. Then the pair for a moment or two walked round each other, and at length rose on wing and soon disappeared. Such is one of the many sights it has been my good fortune to witness, and by each of them have I been deeply impressed with a sense of the pervading power of the Deity. The Sooty Tern always lays three eggs as its full number, and in no instance, among thousands of the nests which were on the Bird Key, did I find one more when the female was sitting close. I was desirous of ascer- taining whether the male and the female incubate alternately; but this I was unable to do, as the birds frequently left their eggs for half an hour or even three quarters at a time, but rarely longer. This circumstance, together with the very slight difference in size and colour between the sexes, was the cause of my failure. 94 ‘THE SOOTY TERN. It was curious to observe their actions whenever a large party landed on the island. All those not engaged in incubation would immediately rise in the air and scream aloud; those on the ground would then join them as quickly as they could, and the whole forming a vast mass, with a broad extended front, would as it were charge us, pass over for fifty yards or so, then suddenly wheel round, and again renew their attack. This they would repeat six or eight times in succession. When the sailors, at our desire, all shouted as loud as they could, the phalanx would for an instant become perfectly silent, as if to gather our meaning; but the next moment, like a huge wave breaking on the beach, it would rush forward with deafening noise. When wounded and seized by the hand, this bird bites severely, and utters a plaintive cry differing from its usual note, which is loud and shrill, resembling the syllables oo-ee, oo-ee. Their nests are all scooped near the roots or stems of the bushes, and under the shade of their boughs, in many places within a few inches of each other. There is less difference between their eggs than is commonly seen in those of water birds, both with respect to size and colouring. They generally measure two inches and one-eighth, by one and a half, have a smooth shell, with the ground of a pale cream colour, sparingly marked with various tints of lightish umber, and still lighter marks of purple, which appear as if within the shell. The leu- tenant, N. Lacosrre, Esq., informed me that shortly after the young are hatched, they ramble pell-mell over the island, to meet their parents, and be fed by them; that these birds have been known to collect there for the purpose of breeding since the oldest wreckers on that coast can recollect; and that they usually arrive in May, and remain until the beginning of August, when they retire southward to spend the winter months. I could not however obtain a sufficiently accurate description of the different states of plumage which they go through, so as to enable me to describe them in the manner I should wish to do. All that I can say is, that before they take their departure, the young are greyish-brown above, dull white beneath, and have the tail very short. At Bird Key we found a party of Spanish eggers from Havana. They had already laid in a cargo of about eight tons of the eggs of this Tern and the Noddy. On asking them how many they supposed they had, they answered that they never counted them, even while selling them, but disposed of them at seventy-five cents per gallon; and that one turn to market sometimes produced upwards of two hundred dollars, while it took only a week to sail backwards and forwards and collect their cargo. Some eggers, who now and then come from Key West, sell their eggs at twelve and a half cents the THE SOOTY TERN. 95 dozen; but wherever these eggs are carried, they must soon be disposed of and eaten, for they become putrid in a few weeks. On referring to my journals once more, I find the following remarks with reference to the Sooty Tern. It would appear that at some period not very remote, the Noddy, Sterna stolida, must have had it in contemplation to appropriate to itself its neighbour’s domains; as on examination of this island, several thousand nests of that bird were found built on the tops of the bushes, although no birds of the species were about them. It is therefore probable that if such an attempt was made by them, they were defeated and forced to confine themselves to the neighbouring island, where they breed by themselves, although it is only a few miles distant. That such inter- ferences and conflicts now and then occur among different species of birds, has often been observed by other persons, and in several instances by myself, particularly among Herons. In these cases, right or wrong, the stronger party never fails to dislodge the weaker, and keep possession of the disputed ground. STERNA FULIGINOSA, Bonap. Syn., p. 355. Sooty Tern, Sterna fuliginosa, Wils. Amer. Orn., vol. viii. p. 145. Sooty Tern, Nutt. Man., vol. ii. p. 284. Sooty Tern, Sterna fuliginosa, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. iii. p. 263; vol. v. p. 641. Male, 164, 343. From Texas to the Floridas, in spring. Breeds in immense multitudes on the Tortugas. Migratory. Adult Male. Bill longer than the head, strong, slender, nearly straight, compressed, very acute. Upper mandible with the dorsal line slightly arched, the ridge broad and conyex at the base, narrowed towards the end, the sides convex, the edges sharp and inflected, the tip acute. Nasal groove extended to beyond half the length of the bill, slightly inflected towards the edge; nostrils basal, linear, direct, pervious. Lower mandible with the angle very narrow, acute, extending to a little beyond the middle, the dorsal line straight, the sides convex, the sharp edges inflected, the tip very acute. Head of moderate size, oblong, compressed; neck of moderate length; body slender; feet very small, wings and tail very long. Tibia bare for a short space; tarsus very short, slender, roundish, covered anteriorly with small scutella, laterally and behind with reticulated rather indistinct scales; toes small, slender, the first very small, the third longest, the fourth nearly as long, the second much shorter, all scutellate above, the anterior united by reticulated webs, haying an incurved margin; claws curved, compressed, 96 THE SOOTY TERN. acute, that of hind toe smallest, of middle toe by much the largest, and having the inner edge thin and dilated. Plumage soft, close, blended, very short on the head; the feathers in general broad and rounded. Wings very long, narrow and pointed; primary quills tapering but rounded, the first longest, the rest rapidly graduated; secondary short, broad, rather acute, the inner more tapering. ‘Tail long, very deeply forked, of twelve feathers, of which the outer are tapering, the middle rounded and short. Bill and feet black. Iris chestnut. Forehead white; lores, upper part of the head, the hind neck and all the upper parts, deep black glossed with blue, excepting the edges of the wings and the lateral tail-feathers, which are white, the latter with the inner web towards the end dusky. All the lower parts and the sides of the neck are pure white. 3 Length to end of tail 164 inches, to end of wings 153, to end of claws 114; extent of wings 343; wing from flexure 12; tail to the end 7#, to the fork 33; bill along the ridge 13, along the edge of lower mandible 25; tarsus 13; middle toe 23, its claw +4. The Female is similar to the male. Female. The mouth is formed as in the Cayenne Tern; its width 83 twelfths. Tongue 1 inch 4 twelfths long, emarginate and papillate at the base, very slender, channelled above, horny beneath, tapering to a point. (sophagus 6# inches long, 1 inch wide at the commencement, 9 twelfths along the neck, but within the thorax dilated into an enormous sac 1 inch 9 twelfths in width. Stomach exceedingly small, being only 103 twelfths long, 7 twelfths broad; its muscles very thin, the epithelium strong, longitudinally rugous, and of a bright red colour. The belt of the proventricular glands only 3 twelfths in breadth. ‘The walls of the cesophagus are extremely thin, so as to be membranous and transparent. Lobes of liver 1 inch 9 twelfths, and 1 inch 2 twelfths long; gall-bladder 4 inch long, 3 twelfths broad. Intestine 15 inches long, 3 twelfths broad at the commencement, diminishing to 2 twelfths; cceca 1 inch 2 twelfths long, their greatest width 14 twelfths, at the base only # twelfth; in form and proportion they are thus like those of the genus Lestris; their distance from the extremity 2 inches, cloaca globular, 9 twelfths in diameter. Trachea 4 inches long, from 23 twelfths to 14 twelfths in breadth, roundish, the rings 95, unossified. Bronchi very wide, of 28 rings. Mus- eles as in the other species. tas nit aii ike prwfal Mi Tith Hrinted BCA? iy ST Bowiwns inn ST yy Sage PRBCOVCOPL — ACV TE fs YA Miele Sori ¢ oO Brann fro Aaturcbvd J Puditbon FRSFLS. N Wi, COMMON TERN. +Srerna Hirvunpo, Linn. PLATE CCCCXXXIII.—Apvutt Mate. Although the Prince of Mustenano has thought that the bird named the Common Tern in America, differs from that bearing the same name in Europe, and has in consequence changed its appellation to that of Wilson’s Tern, I am of opinion that no difference exists between the Common Terns of the two Continents. The cry of both is besides precisely similar, so that | with me there is no doubt whatever as to their identity. Experience has — shewn me that the markings or white spots on the primary quills of Gulls, at one time assumed as a criterion by which species might be distinguished, cannot in the least be depended on, varying, as they always do, in individuals of the same species, at almost each successive moult. Then why, reader, should not Terns exhibit analogous changes? The fact is, they do so; and it is almost impossible, on closely inspecting a dozen or more specimens pro- cured at the same period, in either country, to find two individuals exactly corresponding in every particular. Some have the bill almost entirely black, while others have it more or less red and black, and tipped with yellow. The length of the tail-feathers, that of the tarsus, and the size of the inter- digital membranes, are all found to differ in some degree, if minutely com- pared. If species are to be founded on such slight differences, an ample field is open to those who are ambitious of being discoverers. At all events, I cannot help remarking here, that it seems to me improper to impose new names on objects, until it is proved by undeniable facts that they present permanent differences. I have observed this species along the Atlantic coast of North America, from Galveston Island in Texas to the Straits of Belle Isle on the coast of Labrador, both in spring and in early autumn. But when on the islands in Galveston Bay, in the month of April, I saw only a few arriving there from the west; whereas, in the beginning of May great numbers arrived there from the east, settled at once, and commenced breeding. I felt convinced that the numbers which came from the direction of the Floridas were much greater than those which arrived from the westward, and judged it probable that vast numbers had at the same time left the Peninsula on their way Vor. VEL. 14 98 . COMMON TERN. northward. Should other travellers observe the same or similar phenomena at the season mentioned, it will be proved that this species does not extend its autumnal migration so far as several others, which I observed arriving at Galveston Island from the south-west, for example, the Least Tern, Sterna minuta, the Cayenne Tern, St. cayana, and the Black Tern, St. nigra. ~The Common Tern commences breeding on the coast of our Middle Districts about the 5th of May. On my voyage to Labrador, I found its eggs on the islands in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and especially on the Mag- dalene Islands, which I visited on the 11th of that month. On the 18th I saw them in great abundance in the neighbourhood of American Harbour, on the coast of Labrador, where thousands of Terns were plunging headlong after shrimps all round us. In that country, their eggs were deposited among the short grass, and the places which they occupied were but slightly scratched; whereas, on the Magdalene Islands, were they breed on sandy ridges, slight hollows were scooped out, as is generally the case along the eastern coast of the United States. Their sojourn in Labrador is of short duration; and when we were at Newfoundland, on the 14th of August, mul- titudes were already passing southward. At the same period considerable numbers pass by an inland route from the Canadas, and all our great lakes, travelling along the Ohio and Mississippi. While residing at Henderson, and afterwards at Cincinnati, I had ample opportunities of watching their movements in the month of September. And yet, you will think it strange, that, during their vernal migration, I never saw one ascend any of these rivers or the streams connected with them. Perhaps the inferior tempera- ture of the waters, compared with those of the ocean, in the early spring months, may induce them to abandon their route at that season. In autumn, on the contrary, when these rivers are heated and reduced in size, the Terns may find in them an abundant supply of the fry of various fishes. It would thus appear, being corroborated by other observations which I have made relative to migration, that species whose range is extensive, are determined in their movements by a genial temperature and an abundant supply of food. With an easy and buoyant flight, the Tern visits the whole of our indented coasts, with the intention of procuring food, or of rearing its young, amidst all the comforts and enjoyments which kind Nature has provided for it. Full of agreeable sensations, the mated pair glide along side by side, as gaily as ever glided bridegroom and bride. The air is warm, the sky of the purest azure, and in every nook the glittering fry tempts them to satiate their appetite. Here, dancing in the sunshine, with noisy mirth, the vast congregation spreads over the sandy shores, where, from immemorial time, the species has taken up its temporary abode. They all alight, and with minced steps, and tails carefully raised so as not to be injured by the sand, COMMON TERN. 99 the different pairs move about, renew their caresses, and scoop out a little cavity in the soil. If you come again in a few days, you will find the place covered with eggs. There they lie, three in each hollow, beautifully spotted and pointed; and as they receive heat enough from the sun, the birds have left them until evening. But not absent are they from the cherished spot, for they have seen you, and now they all fly up screaming. Although unable to drive you away, they seem most anxiously to urge your departure by every entreaty they can devise; just as you would do, were your family endangered by some creature as much stronger than yourself as you are superior to them. Humanity fills your heart, you feel for them as a parent feels, and you willingly abandon the place. The eggs are soon hatched; the young in due time follow their parents, who, not considering their pleasant Jabour ended when they are able to fly, feed them on wing in the manner of Swallows, until they are quite capable of procuring their subsistence them- selves. So soon as this is the case, the young birds fly off in bands, to seek on distant shores, and in sunny climes, the plentiful food which the ocean yields. The nest of the Common Tern is, as I have said, a mere hollow made in the loose sand of some island or mainland beach, scantily tufted with wiry grass, or strewed with sea-weeds.. ‘Their eggs never exceed three in number; their average length is 1 inch 53 eighths, their breadth 14 inches. They vary greatly in their markings, as is the case with those of all the smaller species of this family; but their ground colour is generally pale yellowish- green, blotched and spotted with brownish-black and purplish-grey or neutral tint. The young, which are fed with small fishes, shrimps, and insects, separate from the old birds when fully fledged, and do not again associate with them until the following spring, when both are found breeding in the same places. It seems quite curious to see these young birds in winter, during boisterous weather, throwing themselves into the remotest parts of estuaries, and even visiting salt-water ponds at some distance from the sea, as I have often seen them do at Charleston, in South Carolina, when accompanied by my friend the Rev. Dr. Bacuman. Their plumage is then so very different from that of the old birds, that one might readily believe them to be of another spe- cies, did he not observe that their mode of flying and their notes are the same. Not less strange is it, that on such occasions none of the old birds are to be seen in the place, they having remained, braving the fury of the tempest, on the outer harbours. In the beginning of winter, young birds also sometimes ascend the Mississippi as far as Natchez; and in the same manner betake themselves to all the large lakes bordering the Gulf of Mexico, There, as wellas elsewhere, you see them plunge into the water, fear , = ae "ie ee 100 COMMON TERN. *” ae. and instantaneously secure their prey, rise as quickly, and dash into another spot hard by, whenever food happens to be abundant. I have many times seen the Common Tern suddenly fly up and come close over a man or a dog, without the least apparent provocation, indeed when far distant from its nest, and then pass and repass repeatedly within a few yards, emitting a plaintive cry, as if its eggs or young were in the immediate vicinity. At other times, when the birds were yet distant from their young, and carrying fish in their bills, they would, on seeing a man, round to, drop their food, and perform the same evolutions. I, however, know nothing more remarkable of this species of Tern, than that it should breed, as I know from personal observation to be the case, along the whole of our Atlantic coast, in suitable places, from Texas to Labrador. When travelling in stormy weather, they skim over the surface of the water, moving rapidly and close together; whereas in fine weather, they rise high, and proceed in a straggling manner. Now and then I have seen them alight among Tringas of different species, as well as among Razor-billed Shearwaters, on outward sand beaches. Great Tern, Sterna Hirundo, Wils. Amer. Orn., vol. vill. p. 76. Sterna Hirunpo, Bonap. Syn., p. 354. Sterna Hirunpo, Great Tern, Swains. and Rich. F. Bor. Amer., vol. ii. p. 412. Great or Common Tern, Nutt. Man., vol. ii. p. 271. Common Tern, Sterna Hirundo, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. iv. p. 74. Male, 16, 314. Breeds from Galveston Island along the shores of the Atlantic to Labra- dor, and as far north as lat. 57°. Returns southward in autumn, passing beyond Texas. Extremely abundant. Adult Male. Bill about the same length as the head, rather slender, compressed, nearly straight, tapering to a narrow point. Upper mandible with the dorsal line slightly arched, the ridge rather broad and convex at the base, narrow towards the end, the sides sloping, convex towards the end, the edges sharp g, and witha faint groove and ridge extending obliquely to the edge of the mandible; and inflected, the tip very slender. Nasal groove rather lon nostrils sub-basal, linear, direct, pervious. Lower mandible with the angle very narrow, extending beyond the middle, the dorsal line straight, the sides ascending and convex, the edges sharp and inflected, the tip very acute. Head of moderate size, oblong; neck of moderate length; body very slender. Feet very small; tibia bare for a considerable space; tarsus very short, slender, compressed, covered anteriorly with twenty-two small scutella, laterally and behind with reticular scales; toes very small, slender, the first i ad ; COMMON TERN. 101 extremely small, the third longest, the fourth considerably shorter, the second shorter than the fourth in the same proportion; the anterior toes con- nected by reticulated webs, which are deeply concave at their margin. Claws arched, compressed, that of the hind toe smallest, of the middle by much the largest, and having the inner edge thin and dilated. Plumage soft, close, blended, very short on the fore part of the head; the feathers, in general, broad and rounded; wings very long, narrow, and pointed; primary quills tapering to a rounded point, slightly curved inwards, the first longest, the rest rapidly graduated; secondary quills short, broad, incurved, obliquely rounded, the inner more tapering. Tail long, very deeply forked, of twelve feathers, of which the outer are tapering, the middle short and rounded. Bill bright coral-red, black towards the end, the tip light yellow; inside of mouth reddish-orange; eye hazel. Feet coral-red, lighter than the bill; claws brownish-black. Upper part of the head, and the hind neck half-way down, deep black, the anterior part tinged with brown, the posterior with blue. The sides of the head, the fore neck, and all the lower parts, white, with a slight tinge of greyish-blue on the breast. Back, scapulars, and wings, light greyish-blue, the edges of the wings, the rump, and upper tail- coverts, white, slightly tinged with grey. First primary with the outer web deep black, the shaft white, on the inner web a greyish-black band running along the shaft, narrow at the base, and widening so as to occupy the whole breadth of the web for an inch at the end, where it is hoary. The next five have the outer web, and a varying portion of the inner, in nearly their whole length hoary, but at the same time with a dusky shade, which becomes more apparent at the ends; the rest of the quills are like the back, but margined and tipped with white. Tail-feathers with the inner webs white, the outer webs of the colour of the back, paler on the middle feathers, gradually deepening outwards, and on the outer feathers dark or blackish- grey. Length to end of tail 16 inches, to the fork of the tail 11, to end of wings 153, to end of claws 114; extent of wings 314; wing from flexure 11,3,; tail to end of lateral feathers 7#,, to fork 375; bare part of tibia $3; tarsus 2; hind toe and claw 35, middle toe and claw 144. Weight 5 oz. The Female is similar to the male, but rather smaller. In some instances I have seen a small portion of the forehead white. Length to end of tail 15 inches, to the fork 114, to end of wings 153, to end of claws 11; extent of wings 304; wing from flexure 104. Weight 5 oz. The Young in their first plumage have the bill dull greenish-black, with the tip yellowish; the feet greenish-yellow. In winter, the bill is black, with the base pale orange, and the tip yellow- 102 COMMON TERN. ish; the feet orange-yellow. The colours are as in the adult, the forehead white, the rest of the head dusky, the upper parts having the feathers slightly margined with lighter. Length to end of tail 123, to the fork 11; to end of wings 14, to end of claws 103; extent of wings 294; wing from flexure 83. American and British specimens present no essential differences when compared in considerable numbers. The outer web of the lateral tail-feather is blackish-grey, and the inner webs of the tail-feathers are white in all the specimens collected for comparison. The tarsus in American specimens varies in length from 9 to 10$ twelfths, and the claw of the middle toe from 24 to 44 twelfths; but similar differences are observed in the British birds. The tongue is 1;4 inches long, slender, tapering, the point slit, the upper surface a little concave, the lower sagittate and papillate at the base, very horny towards the end. Aperture of posterior nares linear, 9 twelfths long. Palate with a middle and two lateral ridges. Csophagus 6 inches long, extremely wide, its average diameter on the neck 7 twelfths, within the thorax 11 twelfths. The stomach is muscular, 1 inch long, the lateral mus- cles not distinguishable, the fasciculi of fibres being disposed as in the rapa- cious birds; the central tendinous spaces 3 twelfths in diameter; the cuticular lining strong, with broad longitudinal ruge. The contents of the stomach, = fishes. ‘The proventriculus 1 inch long. Intestine 1 foot 7 inches long, of moderate diameter, convoluted, varying from 2? twelfths to 24 twelfths. Rectum 1 inch long. Ceca 5 twelfths long, with a diameter of # of a twelfth. The trachea is 34 inches long, 24 twelfths in breadth above, 14 twelfths below; its rings 103, feeble and unossified; the lateral muscles extremely slender; there are sterno-tracheal muscles, but none besides. Bronchial half- rings about 18. % ae act neh ae, a a BPONYL WARY TAG BIO D8 POL HUT STL SUL UOGM PUB [AG PAHO" ULOLT AMET het Td | A8oN 103 HAVELL’S TERN. TSrerna Havevui, Zud. PLATE CCCCXXXIV.—Aputr. I have several reasons for naming this Tern after Mr. Roprrr HAvett, of Oxford Street, London. In the first place I consider him as-one of the best ornithological engravers in England. Secondly, I feel greatly indebted to him for the interest which he has always evinced in my publication, which, I dare venture to assert, is the largest work of the kind that has hitherto appeared, and the engraving of which has cost him much trouble and anxiety. Thirdly, I consider myself entitled to express my gratitude in this manner, the individual on whom I confer the honour being more deserving of it than many to whom similar compliments have been paid. I shot several individuals of this species out of a number congregated on the broad eddies opposite New Orleans, in 1820. They were engaged in picking up floating coleopterous insects; but after I had fired several shots, and was rowing to those which had fallen on the water, the rest flew off. Since that time it had not been my fortune to meet with any birds of the same species, until I visited Texas in the spring of 1837, when two of them were procured. - Haveti’s Tern, Sterna Havelli, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. v. p. 122. Adult, 153, wing, 10,8. From Texas to South Carolina. Common. Migratory. Adult in winter plumage. Bill about the length of the head, rather stout, much compressed, acute. Upper mandible with the dorsal line slightly declinato-convex, the ridge convex at the base, very narrow in the rest of its extent, the side sloping at the base, nearly erect and convex toward the end, the edges sharp and inflected, the tip very narrow. Nasal groove rather short, but with a channel surmounted by a ridge running from its anterior part to the edge of the mandible about half an inch from the tip. Lower mandible with the angle very narrow and acute, extending to beyond the middle, the outline of the crura a little concave, that of the rest ascending and straight, a slight pro- 104 HAVELL'S TERN. minence or angle being formed at. their junction, as in Gulls, the. sides erect and slightly convex, the edges sharp and’ inclinate, the tip acuminate, the gap-line slightly arcuate. Head of moderate size, ovate; neck of moderate length; hed slender. Feet small; tibia bare for seven-twelfths of an inch; tarsus very short, compressed, anteriorly scutellate; toes: small, slender; the first extremely small, the third longest, the fourth much longer than the second; all scutel- late above, the anterior connected by reticulate webs, of which the inner is more deeply emargiriate. Claws moderately arched, compressed, very slender, that of the middle toe much larger, and having its inner edge somewhat dilated. Plumage soft, close, blended, very sh wt on the fore part of the head. Wings very long, narrow, and pointed; ce quills tapering to an obtuse point; the first longest, the second half an inch shorter, the rest rapidly graduated; secondaries short, incurved, obliquely pointed, some of the inner proportionally longer and narrower. ‘Tail of moderate length, deeply forked, of twelve feathers, of which the middle are rounded, and three inches and a quarter shorter than the outer, which taper to a slender point. Bill black, with the base of the lower mandible tinged with brown, and a very small portion of the tip yellowish. Iris brown. Feet orange-yellow; claws dusky. Surrounding the eye, and extending toward the nape, is a broad band of black; the fore part of the head, the lower eyelid, and all the under parts are pure white; the hind part of the head and the nape are dusky- grey, mixed with white. The rest of the upper parts are light greyish-blue, excepting the rump, which is white, the primary coverts and quills as well as the tail-feathers and their coverts are hoary, with the shafts white; but five of the quills are dusky on the outer web, on the inner along the shaft, and on the inner margin toward the end. Length to end of tail 153 inches; bill along the ridge 144, along the edge of lower mandible 2,4; wing from flexure 103%; tail to end of middle feather 2-5, to end of longest feather 64; tarsus 42; hind toe 54, its claw 3; middle toe 12, its claw +3. This species differs from the Marsh Tern, Sterna anglica, in being less robust, in having the bill a little longer and much more slender, its height at the angle being $3, whereas in that species it is 43; in having the tarsus shorter and much more slender, the feet yellow instead of being black, the claws more slender, and the tail more deeply forked. i The figure in the plate, which is that of an adult bird yet in its winter plumage, has the lateral tail-feathers obliquely truncate, but this was caused by accident, for these feathers in my other specimens run to a narrow point. My specimens from Texas are also in their winter plumage... One of them A, ne STH SUA UIGROLEE LAG BALDY MOLT UMA] MLM T UP BOLL LAD 3 LOD 78 POLL YET LLG Clrtay» £77 Pit? Cob Le | Cob Td ) TRUDEAU’S TERN. 105 is coloured as above; but the other is a young bird, which may here be described. The bill is somewhat shorter and more tinged with brown; the lower parts, the rump, the outer web of the lateral tail-feathers and the sides of the neck are white; the wings as in the adult, but the primaries internally margined with white, and the secondaries tipped with the same; the upper part of the head, and the rest of the upper parts, are light yellowish-brown, intermixed with greyish-blue, and there is the same black band on the side of the head as in the adult. TRUDEAU’S TERN. *+STERNA TRUDEAUII, ud. PLATE CCCCXXXV.—Apuwtr. This beautiful Tern, which has not hitherto been described, was procured at Great Egg Harbour in New Jersey, by my much esteemed and talented friend, J. TrupEAv, Esq. of Louisiana, to whom I have great pleasure in dedicating it. Nothing is known as to its range, or even the particular habits in which it may differ from other species. The individual obtained was in the company of a few others of the same kind. I have received from Mr. Trupreav an intimation of the occurrence of several individuals on Long Island. Trupeau’s Tern, Sterna Trudeaut, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. v. p. 125. Adult, 16; wing, 104%. Great Egg Harbour and Long Island. Rare. Migratory. Adult in winter plumage. Bill about the length of the head, rather slender, much compressed, acumi- nate. Upper mandible with the dorsal line slightly declinato-convex, the ridge rather broad and convex at the base, very narrow in the rest of its extent, the sides sloping at the base, nearly erect and convex toward the end, the edges sharp and inflected, the tip very narrow. Nasal groove rather short, but with a slight channel, surmounted by a ridge, running from its Vor. VII. 15 106 TRUDEAU’S TERN. anterior part to the edge of the mandible about three-fourths of an inch from the tip. Lower mandible with the angle long, very narrow, and pointed, the outline of the crura a little concave, that of the rest ascending and straight, a very slight prominence or angle being formed at their junc- tion, the sides erect and slightly convex, the edges sharp and inclinate, the tip acuminate, the gap-line slightly arcuate. : Head of moderate size, ovato-oblong, neck of moderate length; body slender. Feet small; tibia bare for half an inch; tarsus very short, com- pressed, anteriorly scutellate; toes small, slender; the first extremely small, the third longest, the fourth much longer than the second, all scutellate above, the anterior connected by reticulate webs, of which the inner is more deeply emarginate. Claws moderately arched, compressed, very slender towards the end, that of the middle toe much larger, and having its inner edge somewhat dilated. Plumage soft, close, blended, very short on the fore part of the head. Wings very long, narrow, and pointed; primary quills tapering to an obtuse point; the first longest, the second half an inch shorter, the rest rapidly graduated; secondaries short, incurved, obliquely pointed, some of the inner proportionally longer and narrower. Tail of moderate length, deeply forked, of twelve feathers, of which the middle are rounded, and three inches shorter than the outer, which taper to a slender point. Bill black, with part of the base of the lower mandible, the edges of both mandibles, and their tips to the length of five-twelfths of an inch, yellow. Iris brown. Feet orange-yellow; claws dusky-yellow. Surrounding the eye, and extending toward the nape, is a band of blackish-grey; the fore part of the head, the lower eyelid, the cheeks, and the upper part of the throat, are white. The rest of the upper and lower parts are light greyish-blue, excepting the axillar feathers, the lower wing-coyerts, and the rump, which are white; the tail-coverts and tail are greyish-white. The primary coverts and quills are hoary, but the outer five are dusky-grey on the inner web, toward the margin, and less so along the shaft, and on the outer web; but the shafts of all the quills and tail-feathers are white, as are the inner edges of the primaries and the tips of the secondaries, the inner excepted. Length to end of tail 16 inches; to end of wings 15; bill along the ridge 1,5, along the edge of lower mandible 2; wing from flexure 104$; tail to end of middle feather 2;3,, to end of lateral feather 538;; tarsus 145; hind toe =3,, its claw 13; middle toe 12, its claw #5. This species has the bill more slender than Havell’s Tern, and differently coloured, the tarsus shorter, and the lower parts of the body and neck of the same tint as the upper, whereas that species is white beneath. It is probable that both species haye the upper part of the head and the nape black in summer. THE ARCTIC TERN. +Srerna Arctica, Temm. PLATE CCCCXXXVI.—Mate. Light as a sylph, the Arctic Tern dances through the air above and around you. The graces, one might imagine, had taught it to perform those beau- tiful gambols which you see it display the moment you approach the spot which it has chosen for its nest. Over many a league of ocean has it passed, regardless of the dangers and difficulties that might deter a more considerate traveller. Now over some solitary green isle, a creek or an extensive bay, it sweeps, now over the expanse of the boundless sea; at length it has reached the distant regions of the north, and amidst the floating icebergs stoops to pick up ashrimp. It betakes itself to the borders of a lonely sand-bank, or a low rocky island; there side by side the males and the females alight, and congratulate each other on the happy termination of their long journey. Little care is required to form a cradle for their progeny; in a short time the variegated eggs are deposited, the little Terns soon burst the shell, and in a few days hobble towards the edge of the water, as if to save their fond parents trouble; feathers now sprout on their wings, and gradually invest their whole body; the young birds at length rise on wing, and follow their friends to sea. But now the brief summer of the north is ended, dark clouds obscure the sun, a snow-storm advances from the polar lands, and before it skim the buoyant Terns, rejoicing at the prospect of returning to the southern regions. The day after our arrival at the Magdalene Islands, the weather was beau- tiful, although a stiff breeze blew from the south-west. I landed with my party at an early hour, and we felt as if at a half-way house on our journey from Noya Scotia to Labrador. Some of us ascended the more elevated parts of those interesting islands, while others walked along the shores. A clean sand-beach lay before us, and we proceeded over it, until having reached a kind of peninsula, we were brought to a stand. The Piping Plover ran and flew swiftly before us, emitting its soft and mellow notes, while some dozens of Arctic Terns were plunging into the waters, capturing a tiny fish or shrimp at every dash. Until that moment this Tern had not been familiar to me, and as I admired its easy and graceful motions, » ad fi, at Digby 108 THE ARCTIC TERN. I felt agitated with a desire to possess it. Our guns were accordingly charged with mustard-seed shot, and one after another you might have seen the gentle birds come whirling down upon the waters. But previous to this I had marked their mode of flight, their manner of procuring their prey, and their notes, that I might be able to finish the picture from life. Alas, poor things! how well do I remember the pain it gave me, to be thus obliged to pass and execute sentence upon them. At that very moment I thought of those long-past times, when individuals of my own species were similarly treated; but I excused myself with the plea of necessity, as I recharged my double gun. As soon as a sufficient number of males and females lay dead at our feet, we retired from the water’s edge, to watch the motions of the survivors, among whom confusion and dismay prevailed, as they dashed close over our heads, and vociferated their maledictions. We did not, however, depart until we had tried a curious experiment for the third time. A female had been shot, and lay dead on the water for a con- siderable while. Her mate, whom I was unwilling to destroy, alighted upon her, and attempted to caress her, as if she had been alive. The same cir- cumstance took place three different times, on our throwing the dead bird on the water. Something of the same nature I have related in my article on the Wild Turkey. All this happened in the month of June 1833, when none of the Arctic Terns had yet produced eggs, although we found them nearly ready to lay, as were the Piping Plovers. Our schooner now sailed onward, and carried us to the dreary shores of Labrador. There, after some search, we met with a great flock of Arctic Terns breeding on a small island slightly elevated above the sea. Myriads of these birds were there sitting on their eggs. The individuals were older than those which we had seen on the Magdalene Islands; for the more advanced in life the individuals of any species are, the more anxious are they to reproduce, the sooner do they proceed to their summer residence, and the more extensive is the range of their migration northward. On the other hand, the younger the bird is, the farther south it removes during winter, both because it thus enjoys a milder climate, and requires less exer- tion in procuring its food; whereas the older individuals not only have a stronger constitution, but are more expert in discovering and securing their prey, so that it is not necessary for them to extend their journey so far. The Arctic Tern is found with us on the eastern coasts of the United States only, where it appears, from the shores of New Jersey northwards, in autumn, and whence it departs in early spring. No sooner have the winter tempests subsided, than it is observed gliding along the coast, together with many other birds. In the beginning of March, you see it following the sinuosities of the shores, some passing directly from the Sable Islands Drawn fron Aili SS Jittti bon, PEE PLS. Lith Printed & Cl by 1 LT Lowen, Phila, THE ARCTIC TERN. 109 off the Bay of Fundy and Newfoundland into Baffin’s Bay; others, younger, and unwilling to encounter the perils of a more extended flight, passing up the Gulf of St. Lawrence, either through the Straits of Cansso, or the broader channel between Cape Breton and Newfoundland, and betaking themselves to the Magdalene Islands and the coasts of Labrador. While at American Harbour in June 1833, my son and some of his com- panions met with a low rocky island, on which hundreds of these Terns had deposited their eggs. No other species was seen there; the birds were mostly sitting, and, on the landing of the party, they all rose as if in the greatest consternation, hovered over their heads, and left their eggs to the mercy of the intruders, who carried off a basketful of them, with a few of the birds themselves. On the 18th of the same month, the Arctic Terns were found breeding on another island in considerable numbers; many dozens of their eggs were gathered, and delicious food indeed they proved to be. The full number of their eggs is three, but as it was early in the season many had only two. Their average dimensions were an inch and a quarter in length, and five- eighths in their greatest breadth; they were oval, but rather sharp at the smaller ends; their ground-colour a light olive, irregularly covered with patches of dark umber, larger towards the round end. They were deposited on the rocks wherever there was any grass, but no nest had been formed for their reception. They differed extremely in their colour, indeed quite as much as those of the Sandwich Tern. As we approached the little island, they all rose in the air, and flew high over our heads, screaming loudly, which they continued to do until we left the place. Several were shot, and as each fell the rest immediately plunged through the air after it. Whenever one was wounded so slightly as to be able to make off, it was lost to us, and the rest followed it. Only a very few of those which we saw and shot had the bill entirely red, and those which had were evidently older birds. Some exhibited a considerable portion of the point tinged with brownish-black, yet all of them could easily be distinguished from the Sterna Hirundo, first by their smaller size, shorter tarsi, more delicate bill, and greater curvature of the outer part of their wings; and secondly, by the leaden tint of their lower parts, from the neck to the tail, those parts in Sterno Hirundo being pure white. The baek is also of a deeper blue in the Arctic Tern. The long tail-feathers were much shorter in the females than in the males, but M. Temmincx is wrong in saying that this bird has the tail proportionally longer than that of other species, the Roseate Tern having it of much greater length, considering its diminutive size. At the beginning of the first autumn, the plumage of the young so much resembles that of the young of Sterna Hirundo, that a person, not paying Vox. VI. 16 110 THE ARCTIC TERN. attention to the tarsi and feet, might readily confound them together. Yet even at this early age, there are strong indications of the bluish tint on the under parts. The longest tail-feathers at this period do not extend more than two inches beyond the rest; the upper parts of the body are mottled with brown, as in all the other species, and in Gulls. The mantle of this, as of all other Terns, assumes its permanent hue before any part of the wings. On the 5th of August, in Labrador, the young birds were gambolling along with their parents, over the shores of Bras d’Or Harbour, and when we left that country the Terns still remained, so that Iam unable to state at what particular period they commence their journey southward. The notes of this species resemble the syllables creek, creek, and are often repeated while the bird is on wing. During autumn it follows the sinuosities of the shores of the bays and inlets, ascending against the ebb, and returning to meet the tide, which enables it to procure its focd in succession while it keeps on its course. I have only farther to mention a curious fact, which is, that all the Terns which breed in the northern parts of the United States, and in regions still nearer the pole, sit closely on their eggs, while the small species that breed to the southward incubate only during night, or in rainy weather. STERNA ARCTICA, Bonap. Syn., p. 354. STERNA aRcTica, Arctic T'ern, Swains. and Rich. F. Bor. Amer., vol. ii. p. 414. Arctic Tern, Nutt. Man., vol. il. p. 275. Arctic Tern, Sterna arctica, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. iii. p. 366. Male, 154, 32. Along the coast of the Atlantic in autumn and winter, sometimes as far as New Jersey. Common in Maine, Nova Scotia, and Labrador, where it breeds in multitudes, as well as on the Magdalene Islands, and on the shores of the Arctic Seas. Migratory. Adult Male in spring. Bill about the same length as the head, slender, tapering, compressed, nearly straight, very acute. Upper mandible with the dorsal line slightly arched, the ridge rather broad and convex at the base, narrow towards the end, the sides convex, the edges sharp and inflected, the tip acute. Nasal groove extended beyond the nostrils nearly to the tip; nostrils basal, linear, direct, pervious. Lower mandible with the angle extremely narrow, very acute, extending beyond the middle, the dorsal line straight, the sides erect and slightly convex, the sharp edges inflected, the tip extremely acute. Head of moderate size, oblong; neck of moderate length; body very slender. Feet very small; tibia bare for a considerable space; tarsus THE ARCTIC TERN. 111 extremely short, slender, roundish, covered anteriorly with small scutella, laterally and behind with reticular scales; toes very small, slender, the first extremely small, the third longest, the fourth nearly as long, the second much shorter, all scutellate above, the anterior connected by reticulated webs having a concave margin; claws arched, compressed, acute, that of hind toe smallest, of middle toe by much the largest, and having the inner edge thin and dilated. Plumage soft, close, blended, very short on the fore part of the head; the feathers in general broad and rounded. Wings very long, narrow and pointed; primary quills tapering, slightly curved inwards, the first longest, the rest rapidly graduated; secondary short, broad, incurved, rounded, the inner more tapering. Tail long, very deeply forked, of twelve feathers, of which the outer are tapering, the middle short and rounded. Bill, mouth, and feet vermilion tinged with carmine. “Iris brown. The upper part of the head and elongated occipital feathers greenish-black; the sides of the head and chin white; the upper parts pale greyish-blue, the rump lighter, the tail white, excepting the outer webs of the two lateral feathers which are dusky-grey; primaries dusky towards the ends, the two outer with their outer webs blackish, all with the greater part of the inner web white; secondaries tipped with white. Neck, breast and sides pale greyish-blue, like the upper parts, but lighter; abdomen, under tail-coverts, and lower surfaces of wings and tail white. Length to end of tail 15% inches, to end of wings 133, to end of claws 97; extent of wings 32; wing from flexure 104; tail to end of shortest feathers 34, to end of longest 73; bill along the ridge 14, along the edge of lower mandible 148; tarsus 3%; middle toe 25, its claw 23. Weight 22 oz. 112 THE ROSEATE TERN. +Srerna Doveatti, Mont. PLATE CCCCXXXVII.—Apbuvtt. On the 28th of April, 1832, it was my lot to be on the beautiful rocky islet named Indian Key, where I spent a few hours of the night in unsuc- cessful attempts to procure repose, which was effectually banished by the consciousness of my being in a portion of the country not yet examined by any industrious student of nature, and in which I expected to find much that would prove interesting. The rain fell in torrents, and the rattling of the large drops on the shingles of the veranda in which my hammock had been slung, together with the chilness of the air, contributed to keep me awake. Finding it useless to remain in bed, I roused my companions; it was just four o’clock, and in a few minutes all the people in the house were up, and breakfast preparing. Before six the rain abated, and as I was determined not to lose a day, the guns were mustered, we made our way to the boats, and pushed off through a gentle shower in quest of unknown birds! In about an hour the rain ceased, the sky gradually cleared, and the sun soon dried our clothes. About this time we observed a great number of Terns on a sand bar, which we approached. The birds were not shy, so that we obtained an opportunity of firing two guns at them, when we leaped out, and on wading to the shore picked up thirty-eight Roseate Terns and several of another species. Beautiful, indeed, are Terns of every kind, but the Roseate excels the rest, if not in form, yet in the lovely hue of its breast. I had never seen a bird of this species before, and as the unscathed hundreds arose and danced as it were in the air, I thought them the Humming-birds of the sea, so light and graceful were their movements. Now they flocked together and hovered over us, again with a sudden dash they plunged towards us in anger; even their cries of wrath sounded musical, and although I had carried destruction among them, I felt delighted. As I have just said, I had not before seen a Roseate Tern, not even the skin of one stuffed with tow; the species was not in the Synopsis of my friend Bonaparte, and now I had my cap filled to the brim with specimens. You may rest assured that I took precious care of those which I had procured, but not another individual was robbed of life 4 N288. P1437. Cosel? ee : Mule Irawn trom Natureby JI Audhibontl SFL, Lith Printed & lol “by IT Bowen,Philad * THE ROSEATE TERN. 113 on that excursion. The other Terns were as new to me. I observed the form of their black bill and feet, the yellow tip of the former, and wrapped them up with care, while I tried to recollect the name they bore in books. To have found hundreds of the Roseate Tern in the Floridas, while I had anxious but slender hopes of meeting it on the coast of Labrador, was to me quite astonishing. So it was, however, and I determined to ransack every key and sand-beach, to try to find its breeding-ground. Nor were my desires ungratified. The Roseate Tern spends the breeding season along the southern shores of the Floridas in considerable numbers. At different times in the course of nearly three months which I spent among the keys, | saw flocks of twenty, thirty, or more pairs, breeding on small detached rocky islands, scantily furnished with grass, and in the company of hundreds of Sandwich Terns. The two species appeared to agree well together, and their nests were intermingled. The full number of eggs of the present species is three. They differ considerably in size and markings; their average length, how- ever, is an inch and three quarters, their breadth an inch and one-eighth; they are of a longish oval shape, rather narrowed at the small end, of a dull buff or clay colour, sparingly sprinkled and spotted with different tints of umber and light purple. They were deposited on the bare rocks, among the roots of the grasses, and left in fair weather to the heat of the.sun. Like those of the Common Tern and other species, they are delicious eating. The eggs of the Sandwich Tern were more attended to during the day, but toward night both species sat on their eggs. I did not see any of the young, but procured a good number of those of the preceding year, which kept apart from the old birds, but had in all respects the same habits. The Roseate Tern is at all times a noisy, restless bird; and on approaching its breeding place, it incessantly emits its sharp shrill cries, resembling the syllable crak. Its flight is unsteady and flickering, like that of the Arctic or Lesser Tern, but rather more buoyant and graceful. They would dash at us and be off again with astonishing quickness, making great use of their tail on such occasions. While in search of prey, they carry the bill in the manner of the Common Tern, that is perpendicularly downward, plunge like a shot, with wings nearly closed, so as to immerse part of the body, and _ immediately reascend. They were seen dipping in this manner eight or ten times in succession, and each time generally secured a small fish. Their food consisted of fishes, and a kind of small molluscous animal which floats near the surface, and bears the name of “sailor’s button.’”? They usually kept in parties of from ten to twenty, followed the shores of the sand-bars and keys, moving backwards and forwards much in the manner of the Lesser VYors VIE 17 114 — THE ROSEATE TERN. Tern, and wherever a shoal of small fish was found, there they would hover and dash headlong at them for several minutes at a time. The wreckers informed me that this species returns regularly to these islands each spring, about the 10th of April, and goes off southward early in September. These birds, with their favourite companions the Sandwich Terns, habitually resorted to the sand-bars each day, to rest for an hour or two. Ihave never seen them on any part of our middle or eastern coast, and am of opinion that they rarely proceed farther eastward than the Capes of Florida, and that they are more attached to the immediate vicinity of the shores than the larger species, which more generally fly out to some distance. The delicate and beautiful rosy tint of the breast soon fades after death. Those specimens which were not skinned immediately after being procured - did not retain it for a week, and in none of them was it perceptible, without separating the feathers, at the end of a month. In winter it disappears, as well as the glossy black of the head. The length of the outer tail-feathers: varies considerably; but I could perceive no decided difference of size or colour in the sexes, although I thought the females somewhat smaller than the males. Sterna Doucatiu, Mont. Temm. RoseatTeE Tern, Nutt. Man., vol. ii. p. 278. Roseate Tern, Sterna Dougallii, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. iii. p. 296. Male, 1443, 30. Florida Keys, where it is abundant, and breeds. Migratory. | Adult Male. Bill longer than the head, slender, tapering, compressed, nearly straight, very acute. Upper mandible with the dorsal line slightly arched, the ridge rather broad and convex at the base, narrow towards the end, the sides convex, the edges sharp and inflected, the tip acute. Nasal groove short, extended to one-third of the length of the bill, deflected towards the edge; nostrils basal, linear, direct, pervious. Lower mandible with the angle extremely narrow, very acute, extending to a little beyond the middle, the dorsal line straight, the sides convex, the sharp edges inflected, the tip extremely acute. Head of moderate size, oblong; neck of moderate length; body very slender; feet small; wings and tail very long. Tibia bare for a considerable space; tarsus very short, slender, roundish, covered anteriorly with small scutella, laterally and behind with reticular scales; toes small, slender, the first very small, the third longest, the fourth nearly as long, the second much shorter, all scutellate above, the anterior united by reticulated webs having a THE ROSEATE TERN. 115 concave margin; claws curved, compressed, acute, that of hind toe smallest, of middle toe by much the largest, and having the inner edge thin and dilated. Plumage soft, close, blended, very short on the head; the feathers in general broad and rounded. Wings very long, narrow, and pointed; primary quills tapering, the first longest, the rest rapidly graduated; secondary short, broad, incurved, rounded, the inner more tapering. ‘Tail long, very deeply forked, of twelve feathers, of which the outer are tapering, the middle short and rounded. Bill brownish-black, deep orange at the base. Iris brown. Feet ver- milion; claws blackish-brown, yellow at the base. ‘The upper part of the head and elongated occipital feathers greenish-black; the hind neck white, the rest of the upper parts pale bluish-grey, the tail lighter; the edges of the wings, the tips and inner edges of the quills, and the shafts white. The first primary is black on the outer web and part of the inner, the next two are similarly marked, but with the black shaded over with pale grey, the loose barbules being of that colour; the other primaries become gradually lighter. The lower parts are of a beautiful light roseate hue, which soon fades after death; the under surface of wings and tail white. Length to end of tail 1449 inches, to end of wings 12, to end of claws 94; extent of wings 30; wing from flexure 94; tail to end of shortest feathers 43, to end of longest feathers 74; bill along the ridge 14, along the edge of lower mandible 274; tarsus +$; middle toe +9, its claw AL 116 THE BLACK TERN. +STERNA NIGRA, Linn. PLATE CCCCXXXVIII.—Apbuttr Mater anp Youne. The Black Tern begins to arrive from the Mexican territories over the waters of the Western Country about the middle of April, and continues to pass for about a month. At that season I have observed it ascending the Mississippi from New Orleans to the head waters of the Ohio, then cutting over the land, and arriving at the Great Lakes, beyond which many proceed still farther northward. But I have rarely met with them along our Atlantic shores until autumn, when the young, which, like those of all other Terns with which I am acquainted, mostly keep by themselves until spring, make their appearance there. Nor did I see a single individual when on my way to Labrador, or during my visit to that country. They re-appear in the Western Country, in the course of their southern migration, in the months of September and October; but many pairs breed in the intermediate range. When residing at Louisville in Kentucky, I found the Black Tern abun- dant in the neighbourhood, breeding on the margins of ponds at a short dis- tance from the Ohio. I also found them with nests and eggs on a pond near Vincennes, in the State of Indiana. Now, however, they have abandoned those places, and merely pass over the country on their way to and from the northern regions. Often have I watched their graceful, light and rapid flight, as they advanced and passed over in groups of twenty, thirty or more, from the delightful residence of my worthy friend and kind relative NrcuoLtas Berruovup, Esq. of Shippingport, during the month of May, when Nature, opening her stores anew, benignly smiled upon the favoured land of Kentucky. The gay birds were seen ranging from the basin at the foot of the rapids to the lower part of the narrow channel which separates Sandy Island from the shore, up the clear stream and down again, plunging at short intervals into the water to seize their prey, and continuing their pleasing occupations through the whole day. When the period of reproduction arrived, they would all betake themselves to the ponds, and search along their moist shores for tufts of rank grass such as might form suitable places for their nests. One of their favourite ponds still remains in part, although a great Ness. ° PL A488. oF i Ailall. A, Feu. 2G. Drawn [rove Nature by J) Fiditbonk BSF LS. Lith Printed & lol by 7 T Bowen Fhilad* THE BLACK TERN. 117 portion of it has been drained. It is now known by the name of Hope- Distillery Pond, and lies a few hundred yards from the Ohio, but is nearly surrounded with buildings of various kinds. ALEXANDER WILson, to whom I shewed the old nests of the Black Tern at this place, did not seem to be acquainted with the bird, and thought that they were those of some species of Rail. The nest is usually placed on the top of a broken tussock of the rankest grasses, of which it is itself composed, it being of a flattish form, and about two inches thick. It is enlarged or renewed every year, some nests being found to be from four to six inches in height. In some instances the water surrounds the foot of the tussock on which it is placed. They begin to lay on the first days of June. The eggs, of which the full number is four, greatly resemble in colour those of the Sandwich and Arctic Terns. When disturbed at this season, these birds are as noisy as any of the tribe; but they remain close over the place, and go to the river only at intervals to procure food. Both sexes incubate by turns, and the eggs are kept con- stantly covered. They average in length one inch and three-eighths, by one inch across, and are nearly of an elliptical form, being but slightly pointed at one end; their ground-colour is greenish-buff, spotted and dashed with reddish umber and black, more abundantly toward the middle. I took the trouble of counting the number of nests around the pond, and found it more than seventy. About the middle of August the young fly well, and are able to seek food for themselves. I have seen the parent birds feed them on Wing in the manner of Swallows. They alight less frequently on the water than the larger species. On shore they walk like Swallows. During autumn they hunt for food over the wet prairies, passing low, and picking up the insects as they proceed without alighting. At this season, both old and young have become more silent. They are at all times less shy than most others of the tribe. Their principal food consists of aquatic insects and small fry, and their flesh is tolerably good. Since I wrote the above notice, I have been informed by my youngest son that this species was still seen about the Falls of the Ohio, in considerable numbers, a few years ago; but that, although he observed them there in spring, summer, and early autumn, he did not discover their breeding grounds, which are perhaps now farther inland than formerly. STERNA NIGRA, Bonap. Syn., p. 355. Sterna nicRa, Black Tern, Swains. and Rich. F. Bor. Amer., vol. ii. p. 415. Buack Tern or Stern, Nutt. Man., vol. ii. p. 282. Buiack Tern, Sterna nigra, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. iii. p. 535; vol. v. p. 642. 118 THE BLACK TERN. Adult, 9,24. Young, in autumn, 73; wing, 935. Arrives in Texas from the south early in spring, proceeds along the coast to the Mississippi, then ascends that river and its tributaries, breeding around ponds, or along the streams; and even advances to the Fur Countries, where it also breeds. Abundant. Migratory. Occasionally along the coasts of the Middle Atlantic Districts. Adult Male. p Bill about the same length as the head, slender, tapering, compressed, nearly straight, very acute. Upper mandible with the dorsal line slightly arched, the ridge convex at the base, narrowed towards the end, the sides sloping at the base, slightly convex and nearly perpendicular towards the tip, the edges sharp, the tip acute. Nasal groove reaching nearly to the middle of the mandible; nostrils basal, linear, direct, pervious. Lower mandible with the angle very narrow, acute, extending beyond the middle, the dorsal line straight, the sides erect and slightly convex, the edges sharp and slightly inflected, the tip extremely acute. Head of moderate size, oblong; neck rather short; body slender. Feet small; tibia bare for a short space; tarsus very short, covered anteriorly with small scutella, laterally and behind with reticular scales; toes very slender, the first extremely small, the third longest, the fourth nearly as long, the second much shorter, all scutellate above, the anterior connected by short reticulate webs, having a concave margin, and not extending much beyond the middle of the toes. Claws long, slender, arched, compressed, acute, that of hind toe smallest, of middle toe largest, and having a thin dilated inner edge. Plumage soft, close, blended, on the head short, on the back somewhat compact. Wings very long, narrow and pointed; primary quills tapering, the outer slightly curved inwards at the end, the first longest, the rest rapidly graduated; secondary short, broad, incurved, rounded. ‘Tail of moderate length, emarginate, of twelve rounded feathers. Bill brownish-black. Iris brown. Feet reddish-brown, claws black. Head, neck, breast, sides and abdomen, greyish-black; lower tail-coverts white, lower wing-coverts bluish-grey. The general colour of the upper parts is dark bluish-grey; the outer web of the first quill greyish-black. Length to end of tail 9 inches, to end of wings 11; extent of wings 24; wing from flexure 82; tail 34; bill along the back 1,5, along the edge of lower mandible 1,%,; tarsus 38,; middle toe 58, its claw $3. Weight 3 oz. Young Male in autumn. The bill, iris, and feet, nearly as in the adult. The upper parts are grey- ish-blue, the feathers of the fore part of the back, and especially the scapu- lars, brown towards the end; the upper and hind part of the head greyish- false), ~ 68. N Lith. Printid & Col “ly IT Bowie, Philad” S LEAST TERN. 119 black, of which there is a darker mark behind, and another before the eye; the forehead greyish-white, as are the sides of the head, the fore neck, the breast, and the abdomen; the sides dusky-grey; the lower wing-coverts greyish-white. The quills are darker towards the end, and the first primary is black along the outer web. Length to end of tail 7? inches, to end of wings 93%; wing from flexure 72; tail 21§; bill along the ridge 44, along the edge of lower mandible 174; tarsus 72; middle toe 8, its claw 53. Tongue 1 inch in length, very slender, grooved above in its whole length, tapering to a very fine horny point, which is a little slit. Csophagus 35 inches long, 4 inch wide, within the thorax dilated to a very large sac, 9 twelfths in breadth. Stomach of moderate size, roundish, 8 twelfths long, 7 twelfths broad; the lateral muscles moderate, the tendons large, the epithe- lium dense, with large longitudinal rugs. The proventricular belt 8 twelfths in breadth. Intestine 124 inches long, from 2 twelfths to 1 twelfth in width; cceca 14 twelfths long, $ twelfth wide, 1 inch 2 twelfths from the extremity; cloaca globular, 7 twelfths in width. Liver very large, the left lobe 10 twelfths long, the right 1 inch 2 twelfths. Trachea 2 inches 7 twelfths long, 2+ twelfths wide, tapering to 1 twelfth; the rings slender, unossified, 102 in number. Bronchi rather wide, of 20 half rings. Muscles as in the other Terns. LEAST TERN: + STERNA minuTA, Linn. PLATE CCCCXXXIX.—ApvutT anp Young. As no account of this species exists in the Fauna Boreali-Americana, it is to be supposed that it is not met with beyond the western shores of Labrador, where however I found it in abundance, and breeding, in the beginning of June 1833. On the 14th of August following I observed them at New- foundland, moving southward in detached parties of old and young, against a strong breeze, and uttering their clamorous cries. Again, in the end of April 1837, hundreds of pairs were breeding on the islands of Galveston Bay in Texas, the numerous specimens which I then examined exhibiting 120 LEAST TERN. no difference from those obtained in Labrador and in our Middle Districts. Nay, once, in the middle of June, while wading through the quick-sands of Bayou Sara in Louisiana, I came to a high and dry sand-bar where I picked up several eggs belonging to three pairs of birds of this species, although the distance was about two hundred miles from the sea in a direct line. I have at various times observed this Tern on the waters of the Ohio in autumn, and now and then in spring, at the latter period in company with the Short-tailed Tern, Sterna nigra, and have again met with it on the shores of Lake Erie. I have also found it in winter on the eastern coast of the Floridas, but in small numbers. Few birds indeed seem to me to be so irregular in their migratory movements, for they appear to stop at any con- venient breeding place from Texas to Labrador. Few birds are more gentle than this delicate species is at times; for, appa- rently unaware of danger from the vicinity of man, it allows him to approach within a few yards, whether it be on wing or on the ground. Indeed, in the latter case, I have seen it when gorged so reluctant to fly off that I have more than once thought it was asleep, although on coming up I was always disappointed in my attempts to catch it. Nothing can exceed the lightness of the flight of this bird, which seems to me to be among water-fowls, the analogue of the Humming-bird. They move with great swiftness at times, at others balance themselves like Hawks over their prey, then dart with the velocity of thought to procure the tiny fry beneath the surface of the waters. When you invade their breeding place, they will sometimes sweep far away, and suddenly return, coming so near as almost to strike you. While travel- ling, their light but firm flight is wonderfully sustained; and on hearing and seeing them on such occasions, one is tempted to believe them to be the happiest of the happy. ‘They seem as if marshalled and proceeding to a merry-making, so gaily do they dance along, as if to the music of their own lively cries. Now you see the whole group suddenly check their onward speed, hover over a deep eddy supplied with numberless shrimps, and dash headlong on their prey. Up rises the little thing with the shrimp in its bill, and again down it plunges; and its movements are so light and graceful that you look on with pleasure, and are in no haste to depart. Should this scene be enacted while they have young in their company, the latter await in the air the rise of their parents, meet them, and receive the food from them. When all are satiated, they proceed on their journey, stopping at another similar but distant place. Although along our Southern and Middle Districts, the Least Tern merely scoops a very slight hollow in which to deposit its eggs, doing this from the first of April to the first of June, according to the latitude of the place, those which I found breeding on the coast of Labrador had formed very snug LEAST TERN. 121 nests, composed of short fragments of dry moss, well matted together, and nearly of the size of that of the American Robin, Zurdus migratorius; while those met with on the islands near the Bay of Galveston, were observed to have laid their eggs upon the dry drifted weeds which appeared to have been gathered by them for the purpose. The nests are generally placed out of reach of the tides, but on some occasions I have known the hopes of a whole colony destroyed by the sudden overflow of their selected places caused by a severe gale, and have observed that, on such occasions, their clamour was as great as if they had been robbed of their eggs by man. The number of eggs deposited by this species is more frequently three than four. Like those of most other Terns, they differ somewhat in size and markings, although I never found any so large as those described by Witson, who states that they measure nearly an inch and three quarters in length, which would better agree with the eggs of the Common Tern. The average of a basketful was found to be one inch and two and a half eighths in length, by seven and a half eighths in breadth. They are rather pointed at the smaller end, and their ground colour is pale yellowish-white, blotched with irregular dark brown spots, intermixed with others of a dull purplish tint. I have found this Tern breeding among Shearwaters along the Florida coast; and my friend the Reverend Joun Bacuman has observed the same circumstance on the “Bird’s Banks,”’ on the coasts of South Carolina, where it is abundant, as well as on Sullivan Island. The common note of our Least Tern resembles that of the Barn Swallow when disturbed about its nest, being as smartly and rapidly repeated at times. When it proves convenient for it to alight on the ground or ona sand-beach, after it has secured a prawn or small fish, it does so, and there devours its prey piecemeal, but it more usually swallows it on wing. On the ground it walks prettily, with short steps, keeping its tail somewhat raised. Least Tern, Sterna minuta, Wils. Amer. Orn., vol. vil. p. 80. STERNA MINUTA, Bonap. Syn., p. 355. Sitvery Tern, Sterna argentea, Nutt. Man., vol. ii. p. 280. Least Tern, Sterna minuta, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. iv. p. 175. Adult, 83, 183. Breeds from Galveston along the shores to Labrador. Not mentioned as found in the Fur Countries. Returns southward, and passes beyond Texas in autumn. Extremely abundant at times on the Great Lakes, as well as the Ohio and Mississippi. Adult Male. Vout. VII. 18 ot) Se” Se ee ee |< 122 | LEAST TERN. Bill about the length of the head, slender, tapering, much compressed, nearly straight, extremely attenuated towards the end. Upper mandible with the dorsal line slightly arched, the ridge rather broad and convex at the base, narrow towards the end, the sides nearly erect, the edges sharp and direct. Nasal groove short, extending to a fourth of the length of the bill; nostrils basal, linear, direct, pervious. Lower mandible with the angle extremely narrow, very acute, extending to the middle, the dorsal line straightish, the sides erect, the edges sharp and inflected, the tip extremely acute. Head of moderate size, ovate; neck short; body very slender; feet small. Tibia bare below; tarsus very short, slender, compressed, covered anteriorly with small scutella, laterally and behind with reticular scales; toes small, slender, the first extremely small, the third longest, the fourth considerably shorter, all scutellate above, the anterior united by reticulated webs having a deeply concave margin. Claws arched, compressed, acute, that of hind toe smallest, of middle toe by much the largest, and having its inner edge thin and dilated. Plumage soft, close, blended, very short on the fore part of the head; the feathers in general broad and rounded. Wings very long, narrow, and pointed; primary quills tapering, straight, the first longest, the next five- twelfths of an inch shorter, the rest rapidly graduated; secondary quills short, broad, incurved, narrowed towards the end, the inner straight. Tail rather long, very deeply forked, the lateral feathers extending an inch and seven-twelfths beyond the fork. Bill light yellowish-orange, its tips black, but the extreme points horn- colour. Iris hazel; feet light orange-red, the bare part of the tibia dusky; claws black. On the forehead, a triangular white patch extending to the middle of the eye; upper part of the head and the nape, with a line from the eye to the bill, deep black; sides of the head, fore-neck and lower parts, pure white; back and wings very pale bluish-grey; first two quills with the outer web greyish-black, and rather less than half of their inner web of the same colour, the rest white, extending to about half an inch from their extremities. Tail white in summer, of a paler tint than the back at other times. Length to end of tail 83 inches, to end of wings 94, to end of claws 73, to end of shortest tail-feathers 7; extent of wings 183; wing from flexure 614; tail 34; bill along the ridge 74 twelfths, along the edge of lower man- dible 1,°,; tarsus ;4; middle toe 74, its claw 4. The Female is a little smaller than the male, but otherwise similar. Young fledged. Bill greenish-black. Iris dusky. Feet pale yellowish-orange. All the BPO UPME L LID 3 1G PML YLT CLEP YE Piyy- IE ELLE HL LOGUE L Lh PHPQDY ClOtEL UMU ALT “OFF Td Bo THE NODDY TERN. 123 under parts dull greyish-white, as are the upper parts, including the tail; the hind part of the head streaked with dusky, on the back and rump the feathers with a curved marginal band of greyish-brown; primary quills greyish-brown, the outer two darker. At this period the tail is even, each feather narrowly margined with greyish-white. In a male bird the tongue is 10 twelfths long, slender, triangular, tapering to a point, horny beneath, emarginate and papillate at the base. On the palate are five longitudinal ridges. ‘The posterior aperture of the nares is linear, 7 twelfths long. The cesophagus is 4 inches 2 twelfths long, very wide, its average diameter on the neck 44 twelfths, within the thorax 9 twelfths; it is exceedingly thin and delicate, its muscular fibres scarcely apparent, unless closely examined. The proventriculus is only a quarter of an inch long. The stomach is 9 twelfths long, 8 twelfths broad, its lateral muscles of considerable size, the cuticular lining dense, tough, longitudinally rugous, and of a reddish-brown colour, as in Gulls. ‘Contents of stomach and cesophagus, small fishes, one of them 2 inches long. The intestine is 14 inches long, its diameter 13 tweliths. The cceca are 2 twelfths long, nearly 1 twelfth in diameter. The trachea is 2 inches and 4 twelfths long, its diameter 2 twelfths at the top, diminishing to 1 twelfth; its rings about 105, unossified; its lateral muscles moderate, as are the sterno-tracheal, and single pair of inferior laryngeal. The bronchial half-rings about 25. THE NODDY TERN. +STERNA STOLIDA, Linn. PLATE CCCCXL.—Mate. About the beginning of May, the Noddies collect from all parts of the Gulf of Mexico, and the coasts of Florida, for the purpose of returning to their breeding places, on one of the Tortugas called Noddy Key. They nearly equal in number the Sooty Terns, which also breed on an island a few miles distant. The Noddies form regular nests of twigs and dry grass, which they place on the bushes or low trees, but never on the ground. On visiting their island on the 11th of May, 1832, I was surprised to see that 124. THE NODDY TERN. many ‘of them were repairing and augmenting nests that had remained through the winter, while others were employed in constructing new ones, and some were already sitting on their eggs. In a great many instances, the repaired nests formed masses nearly two feet in height, and yet all of them had only a slight hollow for the eggs, broken shells of which were found among the entire ones, as if they had been purposely placed there. The birds did not discontinue their labours, although there were nine or ten of us walking among the bushes, and when we had gone a few yards into the thicket, thousands of them flew quite low over us, some at times coming so close as to enable us to catch a few of them with the hand. On one side might be seen a Noddy carrying a stick in its bill, or a bird picking up something from the ground to add to its nest; on the other several were seen sitting on their eggs unconscious of danger, while their mates brought them food. ‘The greater part rose on wing as we advanced, but re-alighted as soon as we had passed. The bushes were rarely taller than ourselves, so that we could easily see the eggs in the nests. This was quite a new sight to me, and not less pleasing than unexpected. The Noddy, like most other species of Terns, lays three eggs, which average two inches in length, by an inch and three-eighths in breadth, and are of a reddish-yellow colour, spotted and patched with dull red and faint purple. They afford excellent eating, and our sailors seldom failed to collect bucketsful of them daily during our stay at the Tortugas. The wreckers_ assured me that the young birds remain along with the old through the winter, in which respect the Noddy, if this account be correct, differs from other species, the young of which keep by themselves until spring. At the approach of a boat, the Noddies never flew off their island, in the manner of the Sooty Terns. They appeared to go farther out to sea than those birds, in search of their food, which consists of fishes mostly caught amid the floating sea-weeds, these Terns seizing them, not by plunging perpendicularly downwards, as other species do, but by skimming close over the surface in the manner of Gulls, and also by alighting and swimming round the edges of the weeds. This I had abundant opportunities of seeing while on the Gulf of Mexico. The flight of this bird greatly resembles that of the Night Hawk when passing over meadows or rivers.. When about to alight on the water, the Noddy keeps its wings extended upwards, and touches it first with its feet. It swims with considerable buoyancy and grace, and at times immerses its head to seize ona fish. It does not see well by night, and it is perhaps for this reason that it frequently alights on the spars of vessels, where it sleeps so sound that the seamen often catch them. When seized in the hand, it utters a rough cry, not unlike that of a young American Crow taken from THE NODDY TERN. 125 the nest. On such oceasions, it does not disgorge its food, like the Cayenne Tern and other species, although it bites severely, with quickly repeated movements of the bill, which, on missing the object aimed at, snaps like that of our larger Fly-catchers. Some which I kept several days, refused all kinds of food, became dull and languid, and at length died. STERNA STOLIDA, Bonap. Syn., p. 356. | Noppy, Nutt. Man., vol. ii. p. 285. Noppy Tern, Sterna stolida, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. iii. p. 516; vol. v. p. 642. Male, 164, 32. Abundant on the Gulf of Mexico during the whole year. Breeds in vast multitudes on the Tortugas Keys. Adult Male. Bill longer than the head, strong, slender, nearly straight, compressed, very acute. Upper mandible with the dorsal line slightly arched, the ridge broad and convex at the base, narrowed towards the end, the sides convex, the edges sharp and inflected, the tip acute. Nasal groove extended to beyond half the length of the bill, slightly deflected towards the edge; nostrils sub-medial, linear, direct, pervious. Lower mandible with the angle very narrow, acute, extending to the middle, the dorsal line straight, or very slightly concave, the sides convex, the sharp edges inflected, the tip extremely acute. Head of moderate size, oblong, compressed; neck of moderate length; body slender; feet very short, rather stout. Tibia bare for a short space; tarsus very short, roundish, covered anteriorly with small scutella, laterally and behind with reticulated scales; toes slender, the first very small, the third longest, the fourth nearly as long, the second much shorter, all scutellate above, the anterior united by reticulated webs, having an incurved margin; claws curved, compressed, acute, that of hind toe smallest, of middle toe by much the largest, and having the inner edge thin and dilated. Plumage soft, close, blended, very short on the head; the feathers in general broad and rounded. Wings very long, narrow, and pointed; primary quills tapering but rounded, the first longest, the rest rapidly graduated; secondaries short, broad, rather acute, the inner more tapering. ‘Tail long, cuneate, of twelve tapering rounded feathers. Bill black. Iris brown. Feet dull brownish-red, the webs dusky, the claws black. The general colour is sooty brown; the primaries and tail- feathers brownish-black; the upper part of the head greyish-white; a black spot anterior to and over the eye. Length to end of tail 16;4, to end of wings 1674, to end of claws 1373; Vou. Vil. 19 126 THE NODDY TERN. extent of wings 32; wing from flexure 10}$; tail 52; bill along the back 12, along the edge of lower mandible 24; tarsus 4%. middle toe 13, its claw 42. Weight 4% oz. Width of mouth 9 twelfths. Tongue 1 inch 3 twelfths long, very slender, tapering to a horny point, grooved above, emarginate and papillate at the base. Qsophagus 4 inches 4 twelfths long, its width along the neck 8 twelfths, within the thorax dilated as in the last species, its breadth 1 inch 1 twelfth; the proventricular belt 4 twelfths broad. Stomach very small, 10 twelfths long, 8 twelfths in breadth, of the same structure as in the last. Lobes of liver 1 inch 2 twelfths and 11 twelfths; gall-bladder oblong, 6 twelfths in length, 3 twelfths in breadth. Intestine 13 inches long, 24 twelfths wide at the commencement, 14 twelfths toward the rectum; cceca 2% twelfths long, } twelfth wide, 14 inches from the extremity; cloaca ovate, 7 twelfths in width. Trachea 3 inches long, from 2? twelfths to 14 twelfths in breadth, roundish; the rings 110, very feeble. Bronchi very wide, one with 26, the other with 24 half rings. Genus II] —LARUS, Zinn. GULL. Bill shorter than the head, nearly straight, moderately stout, compressed; upper mandible with its dorsal outline straight to the middle, then decurved, the ridge convex, the sides rapidly sloping, the edges sharp and direct, the tip rather obtuse; nasal groove rather long and narrow; nostrils sub-medial, longitudinal, linear-oblong, broader anteriorly; lower mandible with the angle long and pointed, the outline of its crura decurved anteriorly, that of the ridge slightly concave and ascending, the sides erect, the edge-line decurved toward the tip, which is narrow but obtuse. Head of moderate size, broadly ovate; neck of ordinary length; body compact. Feet rather long or of moderate length, rather stout; tibia bare at the lower part; tarsus moderately compressed, with numerous curved anterior scutella, and smaller behind; toes slender, of moderate length, scutellate; first very small, third a little longer than fourth. Claws small, slightly arched, compressed, rather pO) ef UIMOT L4G 3 10) 80 WILL YUUT OTL SUM UOGRINIE ( (AQ PLN OY WON, UMDAT QU pl? GOPYVOR—-Y-407-? Yu a (Eo Ph Td O8oN THE FORKED-TAILED GULL. 127 blunt. Plumage close, soft, blended, on the back and wings rather compact. Wings very long, pointed; first and second quills longest; secondaries broad, the inner more elongated. Tail of moderate length, generally even, rarely rounded or emarginate, of twelve feathers. In those which have the head white in summer, it is streaked with dusky in winter; and those which are hooded in summer, have the head white and slightly streaked in winter. THE FORKED-TAILED GULL. + Larus Sasini, Sabine. PLATE CCCCXLI.—Mate. On my return from Labrador, I had the pleasure of seeing this interesting little Gull flying over the harbour of Halifax in Nova Scotia. It was in company with our Common American Gull. Although I have not observed it on our eastern shores or farther south on the coast, it is not improbable that it rambles there in winter along with other species which, like itself, breed far north. Its flight in some measure resembles that of the Common Tern, although it is more decided, and, consequently, more like that of the smaller species of its own genus. In the course of a voyage from Pictou in Nova Scotia to Hull in England, lately performed by my friend Mr. Tuomas MacCutiocn, he saw great numbers of this species when more than a hundred miles off Newfoundland. They flew around the ship in company with an almost equal number of Ross’ Gull. Dr. Ricuarpson gives the following account of the Forked-tailed Gull, in the Fauna Boreali-Americana. “This interesting species of Gull was discovered by Captain Epwarp Sapsine. It was first seen on the 25th of July at its breeding station on some low rocky islands lying off the west coast of Greenland, associated in considerable numbers with the Arctic Tern, the nests of both birds being intermingled. It is analogous to the Tern not only in its forked tail, and in its choice of a breeding place, but also in the boldness which it displays in the protection of its young. The parent birds flew with impetuosity towards persons approaching their nests, and when one was killed, its mate, though frequently fired at, continued on the wing close to the spot. They were observed to get their food on the sea-beach, 128 THE FORKED-TAILED GULL. 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 Epwarp Parry’s first voyage, and many specimens were pro- cured in the course of the second voyage on Melville Peninsula. Captain SapineE also killed a pair at Spitzbergen, so that it is a pretty general summer visiter 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 plumage. 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 shew 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 Jand, 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 Sasini, Fork-tailed Gull, Swains. and Rich. F. Bor. Amer., vol. ii. p. 428: Fork-TaILeD GULL, Nutt. Man., vol. ii. p. 295. Forkep-TaILep Guu, Larus Sabini, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. iii. p. 561. Male, 13; 33. 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. 8 THE FORKED-TAILED GULL. 129 Adult Male. Bill rather shorter than the head, nearly straight, rather slender, com- pressed. Upper mandible with its dorsal line straight to the middle, then eurved and declinate, the ridge convex, the sides slightly convex, the edges sharp and inflected, the tip rather obtuse. Nasal groove rather long and narrow; nostrils in its fore part, longitudinal, sub-medial, linear, pervious. Lower mandible with a slight prominence at the end of the angle, which is long and narrow, the dorsal line then straight or slightly concave, the ridge convex, the sides nearly flat. Head of moderate size. Neck short. Body rather slender. Wings very long. Feet of moderate length, rather strong; tibia bare below for a short space, covered behind with narrow scutella; tarsus compressed, anteriorly covered with numerous scutella and three inferior series of transverse scales, laterally with rounded scales, posteriorly with oblique scutella. Toes slender, scutellate above; first extremely small, second much shorter than fourth, third longest, anterior toes connected by reticulated webs, the outer and inner slightly marginate; claws small, compressed, obtuse, that of middle toe with an expanded inner edge. Plumage close, soft, blended. Wings very long and pointed; primaries tapering and rounded, first longest, second almost equal, the rest rapidly graduated; secondaries obliquely pointed, the rounded extremity extending beyond the tip of the shaft, which is exterior to it, the inner feathers more elongated. Tail of moderate length, forked, of twelve feathers. Bill black at the base for more than half its length, the rest pure yellow. Edges of eyelids vermilion, as is the inside of the mouth. Feet black. Head and upper part of neck all round blackish-grey, that colour terminated below by a ring of pure black encircling the neck. Lower neck all round, the whole lower surface, the upper tail-coverts and the tail, pure white. The back and wings are bluish-grey, excepting a large terminal portion of the secondaries, and the tips of the primaries, which are white, the primaries themselves being black, with their shafts brownish-black. The first quill of the specimen figured had no white on the tip, but some individuals differ in this respect. Length to end of tail 13 inches, to end of wings 143; extent of wings 33; wing from flexure 103; tail 5; bill along the ridge 1, along the edges 14; tarsus 1-%;; middle toe 1, its claw 3. Weight 7 oz. The Female is rather less than the male, but in other respects similar. Vor, Vit. 20 130 ROSS’ GULL. Larus Rossi, Richardson. (NOT FIGURED.) Not having met with this beautiful little Gull, I am obliged to refer to Dr. Ricuarpson’s description of it in the Fauna Boreali-Americana. “Cuneate-tailed Gull, with a pearl-grey mantle. Wings longer than the cuneiform tail. The outer web of the first tail-feather blackish; a slender black bill, tarsi an inch long, and, as well as the feet, vermilion red. “Two specimens of this Gull were killed on the coast of Melville Penin- sula, on Sir Epwarp Parry’s second voyage, one of which is preserved in the Museum of the University of Edinburgh, and the other was presented to JosepH SABinE, Esq. No other examples are known to exist in collec- tions; but Commander Ross, in his Zoological Appendix to Sir Epwarp Parry’s narrative of his most adventurous boat-voyage towards the Pole, relates that several were seen during the journey over the ice north of Spitzbergen, and that Lieutenant Forsrer also found the species in Waygait Straits, which is probably one of its breeding places. It is to Commander Ross, who killed the first specimen which was obtained, that the species is dedicated, as a tribute for his unwearied exertions in the promotion of natural history on the late Arctic voyages, in all of which he bore a part. Of the peculiar habits or winter retreat of this species nothing is known. “Description of a specimen killed, June 1823, at Alagnak, Melville Penin- sula, lat. 694° N. “Colour.—Scapulars, inter-scapulars, and both surfaces of the wings clear pearl-grey; outer web of the first quill blackish-brown to its tip, which is grey; tips of the scapulars and lesser quills whitish. Some small feathers near the eye, and a collar round the middle of the neck pitch black; rest of the plumage white. The neck above and the whole under plumage deeply tinged with peach-blossom red in recent specimens. Bill black; its rictus and the edges of the eyelids reddish-orange. Legs and feet vermilion-red; nails blackish. “Form.—Bill slender, weak, with a scarcely perceptible salient angle beneath; the upper mandible slightly arched and compressed towards the point; the commissure slightly curved at the tip. Wings an inch longer emt sh DPPEYML COME LL ND pL PUL YLT CLL aie “Pui WZ WV: Wid & 2 Lp PY, bie te YF VU J (fa d LL S YL UOGNIUE ff AG OAMID Yl MOLT UMDAT 7) BONAPARTE’S GULL. 131 than the decidedly cuneiform tail, of which the central feathers are an inch longer than the lateral. Tarsi rather stout; the thumb very distinct, armed with a nail as large as that of the outer toe. “The other specimen killed by Mr. Surrer a few days later, differs only in the first primary coverts having the same dark colour with the outer web of the first primary itself. j “Length to end of tail 14 inches; tail 54; wing 104; bill along the ridge 3; rictus 13; from nostril to tip of bill 43; tarsus 1,4; middle toe 1 its nail 35.” Larus Rossn, Cuneate-tailed Gull, Swains. and Rich. F. Bor. Amer., vol. ii. p. 427. Ross’ Guii, Larus Rossii, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. v. p. 324. Adult, 14; wing 103. Arctic Seas. BONAPARTE’S GULL. + Larus Bonaparti, Richardson. PLATE CCCCXLII.—Mate, Femate, anp Youne. My first acquaintance with this species took place whilst I was at Cin- cinnati, in the beginning of August 1819. I was crossing the Ohio, along with Mr. Rospertr Best, then curator of the Cincinnati Museum, for the purpose of visiting the Cliff Swallows which had taken up their abode on the walls of the garrison on the Kentucky side, when we observed two Gulls sweeping gracefully over the tranquil waters. Now they would alight side by side, as if intent on holding a close conversation; then they would rise on wing and range about, looking downwards with sidelong glances, searching for small fishes, or perhaps eyeing the bits of garbage that floated on the © surface. We watched them for nearly half an hour, and having learned something of their manners, shot one, which happened to be a female. On her dropping, her mate almost immediately alighted beside her, and was shot. There, side by side, as in life, so in death, floated the lovely birds. One, haying a dark bluish nearly black head, was found to be the male; the 132 BONAPARTE’S GULL. other, with a brown head, was a female. On the 12th of November, 1820, I shot one a few miles below the mouth of the Arkansas, on the Mississippi, which corresponded in all respects with the male just mentioned. No sooner do the shad and old-wives enter the bays and rivers of our Middle Districts, than this Gull begins to shew itself on the coast, following these fishes as if dependent upon them for support, which however is not the case, for at the time when these inhabitants of the deep deposit their spawn in our waters, the Gull has advanced beyond the eastern limits of the United States. However, after the first of April, thousands of Bonapartian Gulls are seen gambolling over the waters of Chesapeake Bay, and proceeding eastward, keeping pace with the shoals of fishes. During my stay at Eastport in Maine, in May 1833, these Gulls were to be seen in vast numbers in the harbour of Passamaquody at high water, and in equal quantities at low water on all the sand and mud-bars in the neigh- bourhood. They were extremely gentle, scarcely heeded us, and flew around our boats so close that any number might have been procured. My son Joun shot seventeen of them at a single discharge of his double-barrelled gun, but all of them proved to be young birds of the preceding year. On examining these specimens, we found no development of the ovaries in several, which, from their smaller size, we supposed to be females, nor any enlargement of the testes in the males; and as these young birds kept apart from those which had brown and black hoods, I concluded that they would not breed until the following spring. Their stomachs were filled with coleopterous insects, which they caught on the wing, or picked up from the water, into which they fell in great numbers when overtaken by a cold fog, while attempting to cross the bay. On the 24th of August, 1831, when at Eastport with my family, I shot ten of these Gulls. The adult birds had already lost their dark hood, and the young were in fine plumage. In the stomach of all were shrimps, very small fishes, and fat substances. The old birds were still in pairs. When exploring the Bay of Fundy, in May 1833, I was assured by the captain and sailors, as well as the intelligent pilot of the revenue tender Nancy, that this Gull bred in great abundance on the islands off Grand Manan; but unfortunately I was unable to certify the fact, as I set out for Labrador previous to the time at which they breed in that part of the * country. None of them were observed on any part of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, or on the coast of Labrador or Newfoundland. In winter this species is common in the harbour of Charleston, but none are seen at that season near the mouths of the Mississippi. The flight of this Gull is light, elevated, and rapid, resembling in buoyaney that of some of our Terns more than that of most of our Gulls, which move BONAPARTE’S GULL. 133 their wings more sedately. I found the adult birds in moult in August. Although their notes are different from those of all our other species, being shriller and more frequent, I am unable to represent them intelligibly by words. Since I began to study the habits of Gulls, and observe their changes of plumage, whether at the approach of the love season, or in autumn, I have thought that the dark tint of their hoods was in the first instance caused by the extremities of the feathers then gradually changing from white to black or brown, without the actual renewal of the feathers themselves, as happens in some species of land-birds. At Eastport, I had frequent opportunities of seeing the black-hooded males copulating with the brown-hooded females, so that the colour of the head in the summer season is really distinctive of the sexes. I found in London a pair of these birds, of which the sexes were distinguished by the colour of the head, and which had been brought from Greenland. They were forwarded by me to the Earl of Dursy, in whose aviaries they are probably still to be seen. This is certainly the species described in the Fauna Boreali-Americana under the same name; but it is there stated that the females agree precisely with the males, their hood being therefore “greyish-black;’’? which I have never found to be the case. As to the Larus capistratus of Bonaparte’s Synopsis, I have nowhere met with a Brown-headed Gull having the tail “sub-emarginate;’? and I infer that the bird described by him under that name is merely the female of the present species. 3 Brown-MaskeED Guu, Larus capistratus, Bonap. Amer. Orn., vol. iv. Female. Larus CAPistrRatus, Bonap. Syn., p. 358. Larus Bonapartu, Bonapartian Gull, Swains. and Rich. F. Bor. Amer., vol. ii. p. 425. BonaparTiaAn Guu, Nutt. Man., vol. il. p. 294. Bonapartian Gui, Larus Bonapartti, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. iv. p. 212. Adult, 144, 324. Extremely abundant in winter, on the coast of Florida. Equally plentiful in spring, along the coasts of the Middle and Eastern Districts, especially in the Chesapeake. Breeds from the Bay of Fundy to high latitudes. Not uncommon in autumn, on the Great Lakes, and the Ohio and Mississippi. Adult Male in spring plumage. Bill shorter than the head, nearly straight, slender, compressed. Upper mandible with its dorsal line straight to the middle, then curved and declinate, the ridge narrow, the sides slightly convex, the edges sharp and a little inflected, the tips narrow but rather obtuse, with a slight notch on each side. Nasal groove rather long and narrow; nostrils in its fore part, longitudinal, sub-medial, linear, pervious. Lower mandible with a slight 134 BONAPARTE’S GULL. prominence at the end of the angle, which is long and narrow, the dorsal line then ascending and slightly concave, the ridge convex, the sides nearly erect and flattened. Head of moderate size, ovate, narrowed anteriorly, convex above. Eyes of moderate size. Neck rather short. Body rather slender. Wings very long. Feet of moderate length, rather strong; tibia bare below for a short space, covered behind with narrow scutella; tarsus compressed, anteriorly covered with numerous scutella and three inferior series of transverse scales, laterally with oblong scales, posteriorly with oblique scutella. Toes slender, with numerous scutella; first extremely small, second considerably shorter than fourth, third longest; anterior toes connnected by reticulated webs, of which the anterior margins are deeply concave, the outer and inner slightly marginate. Claws small, compressed, moderately arched, rather obtuse, that of middle toe with an expanded inner edge. Plumage full, close, soft, blended. Wings very long and pointed; prima- ries tapering and rounded, first longest, second very little shorter, the rest rapidly graduated; secondaries obliquely pointed, the rounded extremity extending beyond the tip of the shaft, which is exterior to it, the inner feathers more elongated. ‘Tail of moderate length, almost even, the middle feathers slightly longer. Bill black, inside of mouth vermilion. Iris reddish-hazel. Feet orange, slightly tinged with vermilion; claws dusky brown. Head and upper part of neck all round, greyish-black, that colour extending half an inch lower on the throat than on the occiput. A white band divided by a narrow black line margining the eye behind; the remaining part of the neck white; back, scapulars and wings, light greyish-blue. The anterior ridge of the wing, alula, smaller coverts on the carpal margin, four outer primary coverts, shaft and inner web of the outer primary, both webs of second, inner webs of third and fourth, white; of which colour also are the rump, tail, and all the lower parts. Outer web of first quill, excepting a small portion towards the end, its tip to the length of half an inch, black, as are the ends of the next six, which however have a small tip of white, the black on some of them about an inch long, and running along the inner edge to a considerable extent. Length to end of tail 14§ inches, to end of wings 153, to end of claws 134; extent of wings 323; wing from flexure 103; tail 4,; bill along the ridge 1,4, along the edge of lower mandible 149; tarsus 1,4; hind toe and claw 23; middle toe 1-3,, its claw 23; outer toe 1+, its claw 22; inner toe 11, its claw 23. Weight 62 oz. Adult Female. BONAPARTE’S GULL. 135 The female is somewhat smaller, and resembles the male, but has the head and upper part of the neck umber-brown. Young in December. Bill greyish-black, iris dark brown; feet flesh-coloured, claws dusky. Head and neck greyish-white; a small black patch about an inch behind the eye on each side. Upper parts dull bluish-grey, many of the wing-coverts greyish-brown, edged with paler; quills as in the adult; rump and tail white, the latter with a broad band of black at the end, the tips narrowly edged with whitish. Length to end of tail 133, to end of wings 153, to end of claws 13; extent of wings 324 inches. Weight 6 oz. The white spots on the tips of the wings vary greatly in size, and are frequently obliterated when the feathers become worn. Palate with five series of small distant papille. Tongue 1 inch 14 twelfths long, slender, tapering to a slit point, emarginate and papillate at the base, horny towards the end. Aperture of posterior nares linear, 9 twelfths long. Heart 1 inch long, 9 twelfths broad. Right lobe of liver 1 inch 11 twelfths long, the other lobe 1 inch 7 twelfths. The cesophagus is 64 inches long, very wide, with rather thin parietes, its average diameter when dilated 10 twelfths, within the thorax enlarged to 1 inch 2 twelfths. The transverse muscular fibres are distinct, the internal longitudinal less so; the mucous coat longitudinally pheate. The proven- triculus is 4 inch long, with very numerous small glandules. The stomach is a small oblong gizzard, 10 twelfths long, 8 twelfths broad; its lateral muscles rather large, as are its tendons. ‘The inner coat or epithelium is of moderate thickness, dense, with nine longitudinal broad rugz, and of a brownish-red colour. The intestine is 244 inches long, its diameter 2 twelfths. The rectum is 1$ inches long. The cceca are 2 twelfths long, 1 twelfth in diameter, cylindrical and obtuse. The intestine of another individual, a male, is 204 inches long, 3 twelfths in diameter. The trachea is 3 inches 10 twelfths long, its diameter at the top 3 twelfths, at the lower part 24 twelfths, the rings very feeble, unossified, about 130 in number. The sterno-tracheal muscles are very slender, as are the contrac- tors; and there is a pair of inferior laryngeals. The bronchi are of mode- rate length, with about 18 half rings. _— 1h DER ee 136 BLACK-HEADED, OR LAUGHING GULL. + Larus ATrRIcILLA, Linn. PLATE CCCCXLIII.—Mate in sprine, anp Youne. Much confusion appears to exist among authors regarding our Laughing Gull, and this, in my humble opinion, simply because not one of them has studied it, in its native haunts, and at all seasons, since the period when it was briefly characterized by our great master Linnmus, who, after all that has been said against him, has not yet had his equal. AtexanpER WILson, who, it seems, knew something of the habits of this bird, thought it how- ever identical with the Larus ridibundus of Europe, as is shewn by the synonymes which he has given. Others, who only examined some dried skins, without knowing so much as the day or even the year in which they had been shot, or their sex, or whether the feathers before them had once belonged to a bird that was breeding, or barren, when it was procured, described its remains perhaps well enough for their own purpose, but cer- tainly not with all the accuracy which is necessary to establish once and for ever a distinct species of bird. Others, not at all aware that most Gulls, and the present species in particular, assume, in the season of pairing, and ina portion of the breeding time, beautiful rosy tints in certain parts of their plumage, which at other periods are pure white, have thought that differences of this sort, joined to those of the differently-sized white spots observable in particular specimens, and not corresponding with the ike markings in other birds of the same size and form, more or less observable at different periods on the tips of the quills, were quite sufficient to prove that the young bird, and the breeding bird, and the barren bird, of one and the same species, differed specifically from the old bird, or the winter-plumage bird. But, reader, let us come to the point at once. At the approach of the breeding season, or, as I like best to term it, the love season, this species becomes first hooded, and the white feathers of its breast, and those of the lower surface of its wings, assume a rich blush of roseate tint. If the birds procured at that time are several years old and perfect in their powers of reproduction, which is easily ascertained on the spot, their primary quills shew little or no white at their extremities, and their hood descends about three quarters of an inch lower on the throat than N° 89. PL +43. Va tf? Cg a VAdiult Mate Springs tumugte: 2, Pourig Lerst ditdarve rs Lrawn Lhome Nilure by J) Audubon, BRS KTS Lith Printed & Cl “by AT Bowen Phila LAUGHING GULL. 137 on the hind part of the head, provided the bird be a male. But should they be barren birds, the hood will be wanting, that portion of their plumage remaining as during winter, and although the primaries will be black, or nearly so, each of them will be broadly tipped, or marked at the end, with a white spot, which in some instances will be found to be fully half an inch in size; yet the tail of these birds, as if to prove that they are adults, is as purely white to its extreme tip, as in those that are breeding; but neither the breast, nor the under wing-coverts, will exhibit the rosy tint of one in the full perfection of its powers. The males of all the Gulls with which I am acquainted, are larger than the females; and this difference of size is observable in the young birds even before they are fully fledged. In all of these, however, putting aside their sex, I have found great differences of size to exist, sometimes as. much as two inches in length, with proportional differences in the bills, tarsi, and toes; and this, in specimens procured from one flock of these Gulls at a single discharge of the gun, and at different seasons of the year. The colour of their bills too is far from being always alike, being brownish-red in some, purplish or of a rich and deep carmine in others. As to the white spots on the extremities of the primary quills of birds of this family, I would have you, reader, never to consider them as affording essential characters. Nay, if you neglect them altogether, you will save yourself much trouble, as they will only mislead you by their interminable changes, and you may see that the spots on one wing are sometimes different in size and number from those on the other wing of the same specimen. If all this be correct, as I assure you it must be, being the result of numberless observations made in the course of many years, in the very places of resort of our different Gulls, will you not agree with me, reader, that the difficulty of distinguishing two very nearly allied species must be almost insuperable when one has nothing better than a few dried skins for objects of observation and comparison? The Black-headed Gull may be said to be a constant resident along the southern coast of the United States, from South Carolina to the Sabine river; and I have found it abundant over all that extent both in winter and in summer, but more especially on the shores and keys of the Floridas, where I found it breeding, as well as on some islands in the Bay of Galveston in Texas. A very great number of these birds however remove, at the approach of spring, towards the Middle and Eastern Districts, along the shores of which they breed in considerable numbers, particularly on those of New Jersey and Long Island, as well as on several islands in the Sound. They constantly evince a dislike to rocky shores, and therefore are seldom seen beyond Massachusetts, in which State indeed they are exceedingly rare. None were observed by any members of my party on the Magdalene Vor. VIL. 21 138 LAUGHING GULL. Islands, or on the coasts of Labrador or Newfoundland. I never met with any of them on the Mississippi above New Orleans, although they are plen- tiful in that neighbourhood during winter, and until the breeding season commences; and I think that this species never travels beyond the influence of the tide-waters of any stream. Wiuuson, in speaking of it, says that it is seen on the newly ploughed fields, and around the houses of the farmers of New Jersey; but the habit of visiting ploughed grounds I have not observed in any one of the American Gulls, although I have frequently noticed it in some of the European species, particularly Larus canus, L. ridibundus, and L. argentatus. } At all periods of the year, the Black-headed Gulls keep in flocks formed of many families; and in the breeding season, or even as soon as their court- ships have commenced, they assemble by hundreds of pairs, or even by thousands. At this time they are so clamorous as to stun your ear with their laughing-like cries, though at other seasons they are generally silent, unless when suddenly alarmed, or when chased by the Jager. Their loves are conducted with extreme pomposity: they strut and bow to the females, throwing their head backwards, like all other Gulls, although in a less degree and with a less curious motion than Cormorants. You see them first stretch- ing their heads forwards; then, with open bill, vibrating tongue, and eyes all glowing, they emit their loud laughing notes, which, in a general sense, resemble those of many other species, though they are not precisely similar to-those- of any. But before I proceed with my account of their manners, I will- give you the result of some curious observations which I made on them in Florida. Previously to my visit to that interesting peninsula, I had not unfre- quently noticed indications of strong amatory propensities in several species of Gulls, but never to the extent exhibited by the present species, many of which I saw copulating in the latter part of autumn and in winter, fully three months before the usual time of depositing their eggs in that country. Similar observations were made on Larus argentatus, on the coast of Maine, and on Larus marinus, in the Bay of Fundy. Nay, even in Europe I have seen this extraordinary tendency to reproduce out of season, as it were. On some such occasions, when I was at St. Augustine, in the month of Decem- ber, I have observed four or five males of the present species paying their addresses to one female, who received their courtesies with evident welcome. Yet the females in that country did not deposit eggs until the 20th day of April. The most surprising fact of all was, that, although these birds were paired, and copulated regularly, by the 1st of February, not one had’agquired the spring or summer plumage, or the dark coloured hood, or the rosy tint of the breast, nor lost the white spots on the tips of their primary quills. LAUGHING GULL. 139 This change, however, was apparent by the 5th of March, became daily stronger, and was perfected by the 15th of that month. w ne! ( CK uy \Y Trnat A Tht (Hu (ttat | | \ \\ (ns 316 THE HORNED GREBE. number of turns being twelve. Its length is 33 inches; its width 4 inch at the upper part, towards the rectum only 3 twelfths. The cceca are 2 inches long, 2 twelfths in breadth, uniform, unless at the base, where they are narrower; their distance from the extremity 3 inches. The cloaca is globular, 14 inches in diameter. The trachea is 94 inches long, of the nearly uniform width of 33 twelfths, unless at the lower part, when it is narrowed to 2 twelfths; flattened in its upper half, and compressed in the lower; the rings moderately firm, 180 in number. The Grebes differ from almost all other birds in having the bronchial rings complete and firmly ossified. In the present species, they are only 8 in number, the remaining part of the bronchi being membranous. There are the usual cleido-tracheal muscles; the sterno-tracheal, part of which is continuous with the lateral muscles, but the inferior portion distinct, and attached to several of the rings; there is also a single pair of inferior laryngeal muscles. The jugular veins are of vast size, and toward the lower part of the neck form an immense dilatation; that of the left side being distended with coagulated blood to 9 twelfths of an inch, and so continuing until it enters the heart. The other is 4 inch in breadth. In this respect there seems to be an analogy to the diving mammifera, such as the seals and dolphins. THE HORNED GREBE. ~PopicErs cornutTus, Linn. PLATE CCCCLXXXI.—Mate anp Youne. The period at which this little Grebe makes its first appearance, after the breeding season, on the waters of the Western States, such as the Ohio, the Mississippi, and their numerous tributaries, is the beginning of October, when I have seen them arriving and passing onward on wing at a consider- able height in the air, following the course of the streams. The generally received idea that birds of this genus perform their migrations on the water, is extremely absurd. I have already offered some remarks on this subject, but as too much cannot be said, when an erroneous notion extensively Nom Drawn trom Nalure OPS Midubon kL hS ELS. arse WELL (LLL ? Z oO AL 4 90t ¢ GZ, LM Male. &, Perrale tr Winter Lith. Printed / PLA). Op TUB OWNPRMaAd THE HORNED GREBE. Sila adopted has to be disproved, I here repeat that I have seen flocks of Grebes on wing and migrating high in the air, apparently with as much ease as many longer-winged birds, and with considerable velocity. Towards evening, on the 14th of October, 1820, I was floating in a small boat on the Ohio. The weather was perfectly calm, and I was startled by a whistling sound over head, resembling that of a Hawk stooping on its prey, when, on looking up, I saw a flock of Grebes, about thirty in number, gliding towards the water as if about to alight within a quarter of a mile from me. In a few minutes they had come within a few yards of the surface of the water, when suddenly checking their speed, they pursued their course until out of sight; but in a short time I saw them returning towards me, and in less than a minute they all passed at a distance of forty or fifty yards, took a round and alighted pell-mell. The next moment, they were all engaged in washing and trimming themselves, in the manner: of Ducks, Cormorants, and other aquatic birds. As I rowed towards them, they scarcely took notice of me, so that they were easily approached; and finding a number of them close together, I fired and killed four. The rest paddled off for some yards, rose on wing, and flew down the stream in a pretty close body, looking as if not disposed to settle again for some time. On picking up the dead birds, I found them to be of the present species, three being young, the other an adult with the winter plumage beginning to appear. Here I may remark, that Grebes in general do not moult so early as most other birds after they have young; thus the Crested Grebe often passes to the south in September, with its head still adorned with a large portion of the feathers of its spring and summer tippet. While residing at different places on the Ohio, I have many times witnessed the passage of the Horned and the Crested. The Horned Grebe is abundant during autumn and winter on the large rivers or inlets of the Southern States, but rare along the coasts of the . Middle and Eastern Districts. On the rivers about Charleston in South Carolina it is seen at those seasons in considerable numbers, although not in larger flocks than from four to seven individuals. ‘The same is observable from that place to the mouths of the Mississippi. It is particularly fond of those streams of which the borders are overgrown by rank sedges and other plants, and are subject to the influx of the tide. In such places they enjoy greater security while searching for their food than in ponds, to which, however, they for the most part retire at the approach of the pairing season, which commences early in February. At that time one might be apt to think that these birds could scarcely fly, as they are then rarely seen on wing; but when they are pursued, and there happens to be a breeze, they rise from the water with considerable ease, and fly to a distance of several 318 THE HORNED GREBE. hundred yards. In December and January I have never procured any having the least remains of their summer head-dress; but by the 10th of March, when they were on their journey towards the north, the long feathers of the head were apparent. These tufts seem to attain their full development in the course of a fortnight or three weeks, the old birds becoming plumed sooner than the young, some of which leave the country in their winter dress. On the ground, this species is not better off than the Dobchick, it being obliged to stand nearly erect, the hind part of the body resting, and the tarsi and toes extended laterally. They dive with great celerity, and when once acquainted with the effects of the gun, are not easily shot. A report is at times sufficient to make the old birds dive at once, although they may be quite beyond the reach of a shot. The young birds are more easily procured at their first appearance; but the most efficient method of obtaining them is to employ fishing nets, in the meshes of which they become entangled. Excepting a species of Hawk nearly allied to Circus cyaneus, I know of no other bird that has the eye of such colour, the iris being externally of a vivid red, with an inner circle of white, which gives it a very singular appearance. On attentively examining the eyes of our Divers and Grebes, I have not found any with similar eyes. The Horned Grebe does not seem to see better than any other species, nor does it appear to be more diurnal than the rest, nor are the objects on which it feeds more minute, for I have found as small seeds in the stomach of the large Grebe as in that of the present species. The reason of this strange colouring of the iris, therefore, I am unable to conjecture. Although the greater number of these birds go far northward to breed, some remain within the limits of the United States during the whole year, rearing their young on the borders of ponds, particularly in the northern parts of the State of Ohio, in the vicinity of Lake Erie. Two nests which I found were placed at a distance of about four yards from the water’s edge, on the top of broken down tussocks of rank weeds. The materials of which they were composed were of the same nature, and rudely interwoven toa height of upwards of seven inches. They were rather more than a foot in diameter at the base, the cavity only four inches across, shallow, but more neatly finished with finer plants, of which a quantity lay on the borders, and was probably used by the bird to cover the eggs when about to leave them. There were five eggs in one nest, seven in the other; all contained chicks (on the 29th of July); they measured one inch and three-quarters in length, by one inch and two and a half eighths; their shell was smooth, and of a uniform yellowish cream colour, without spots or marks of any kind. The nests were not more than fifty yards apart, on the south-western side of the THE HORNED GREBE. 319 pond. Iam thus particular because of the near relation of this bird to the Podiceps auritus of LATHAM, with which it may be confounded by a not over-careful observer, as may the eggs too, those of the latter species being precisely of the same length, but fully an eighth of an inch narrower, which of course gives them a more elongated appearance. I have observed the same differences in the eggs of these two species in Europe. I could not ascertain if both the parent birds incubate; but as I saw two pairs on the pond, I am inclined to think that they do. The nests were not fastened to the weeds around them, nor do I conceive it probable that they could be floated, as various writers assert they are at times. I have not seen the young of this species when small; but from the knowledge I have of those of other Grebes, I feel pretty certain that the notions entertained of their being carried either on the back or under the wings of their parents in cases of danger must be erroneous, as Grebes in all such cases dive or fly at once, when it. would be impossible for the old and young to keep thus attached to each other. I have observed in the stomachs of almost all that I have examined, a quantity of hair-like substances rolled together like the pellets of Owls, but have not ascertained whether or not these masses are disgorged. They certainly cannot pass through the intestines. But unless birds of this kind are kept in an aviary and watched, this matter must remain unknown. The food of this species, while on salt-water, is composed of shrimps, small fishes, and minute crustacea. While on fresh-water, they procure insects, leeches, small frogs, tadpoles, and aquatic lizards; they also pick up the seeds of grasses, and I have found as many in the stomach of an individual as would fill the shell of one of its eggs. Their flight is performed by regular short flappings, executed with great quickness. © I have represented an adult male in full spring plumage, and a young bird shot in December. The males are rather larger than the females, which are similar in colour, but rarely have the head so well -feathered during the breeding season. Popiceps cornuTUus, Bonap. Syn., p. 417. Popiceps cornutus, Horned Grebe, Swains. and Rich. F. Bor. Amer., vol. ii. p. 411. Hornep Gress, or Dorcuicx, Nutt. Man., vol. ii. p. 254. Hornep Greee, Podiceps cornutus, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. iii. p. 429; vol. v. p. 623. Male, 142, 254. Very common during autumn on the Ohio, Missouri, Mississippi, and all their tributaries, as well as in all the Atlantic Districts, to Texas. Breeds from the Great Lakes to the Fur Countries. Migratory. 320 THE HORNED GREBE. Adult Male in spring. Bill shorter than the head, straight, acute, rather slender. Upper man- dible with the dorsal line straight for one-half of its length, towards the end declinate and slightly convex, the ridge convex, the sides sloping, the edges sharp and inflected, the tip acute. Nasal groove broad, extending to beyond the middle of the mandible; nostrils sub-basal, linear-elliptical, pervious. Lower mandible with the angle long and very narrow, the dorsal line short, ascending, straight, the sides erect, slightly convex, the edges sharp, inflected, the tip narrow, acute. : Head of moderate size, oblong, compressed. Neck rather long and slender. Body depressed. Feet large, short, placed far behind; tibia feathered to the joint; tarsus short, extremely compressed, anteriorly with a narrow scutellate ridge, laterally with numerous broad scutella, posteriorly with a narrow ridge having a double row of small prominent scales. Hind toe very small, with an inferior small membrane; fore toes long, the outer longest, scutellate above, united at the base by short webs, externally mar- gined, internally with broad rounded expansions, which are marked with parallel oblique lines, and crenate on the edges. Claws flattened, that of the middle toe broadest, with an extremely thin, broad terminal edge. Plumage of the head and neck very soft and downy, of the breast and sides silky and highly glossed, of the abdomen downy, of the upper parts imbricated, but with loose edges. Wings small; primaries much curved, the first longest, the second almost equal. Tail, a small tuft of loose feathers. On the head, at this season, is a tuft of soft feathers on each side behind the eye, and a larger on each side of the upper part of the neck. Bill bluish-black, its tip yellow. Short loral space bright carmine, as is the iris, its inner margin white; edges of eyelids greyish-blue. Feet dusky externally, internally and on the anterior and posterior ridges of the tarsus dull yellow; claws dusky. Forehead greyish-brown; upper parts of the | head bluish-black, as are the sides, fore neck anteriorly, and the elongated ruff feathers; a broad band over the eyes, and the elongated tufts behind them yellowish-brown. Fore neck brownish-red; lower parts white, the sides reddish-brown; abdomen dull grey. The upper parts are brownish- black, the feathers edged with greyish, the middle secondary quills white. Length to end of tail 143, to end of claws 19; extent of wings 254; wing from flexure 53; bill along the back 44, along the edge of lower mandible 14; tarsus 14; outer toe 14$, its claw 4. Weight 14 oz. Young Female in winter. The feathers of the hind head are a little elongated, but at this age there are no tufts on the head. In other respects the plumage is as in the adult male. The bill is bluish-grey, as is the bare loral space; the eye bright THE HORNED GREBE. 321 ow earmine, the iris with an inner white edge; the feet bluish-grey. The upper part of the head, and the hind neck, are greyish-black, as are the upper parts in general. The feathers of the back edged with light grey. The throat, the sides of the head, a broad patch on each side of the neck nearly meeting behind, and the breast white; the sides and downy feathers of the abdomen brownish-grey. Some of the secondaries are white, as in the adult male. Male. The mouth as in the last species, 44 twelfths wide; the tongue 11 twelfths long, and similar to that of the Red-necked Grebe. C&sophagus 7 inches in length, along the neck only 4 twelfths broad; the proventriculus excessively large, ovate, 10 twelfths in breadth. The stomach is an enor- mous sac, 2 inches long, 14 broad, a little compressed, of the same structure as in the last species; its tendons 4 twelfths in breadth. There is a small flattened pyloric lobe. The contents of the stomach are feathers, and bones of fishes. There is in this species a very distinct, thick, soft, bright red, longitudinally rugous epithelium. The proventricular glands are of great size, the largest 3 twelfths long, 1 twelfth in breadth; they form a belt 14 inches in breadth. The lobes of the liver are very large, the left 2 inches 4 twelfths long, the right 2 inches; the gall-bladder oblong. The intestine forming 12 curves; its length is 49 inches, its breadth at the upper part 5 twelfths, diminishing to 3 twelfths; the cceca 2 inches long; their greatest width 2 twelfths, their distance from the extremity 1 inch 9 twelfths. Cloaca globular, about 7 twelfths in width. The trachea is 6% inches long, much flattened in its whole length, except- ing half an inch at the lower part; for half its length it is 2 twelfths in breadth, then enlarges to 3 twelfths, and finally diminishes to 14 twelfths. The rings are 184, firm. The bronchi are slender, with the rings complete, ossified, 12 in number: the remaining part being membranous. The muscles as in the last. The jugular veins are not enlarged in this species. Von VIL 45 D22 EARED GREBE. PopicErs Auritus, Lath. PLATE CCCCLXXXII.—Apbutrt anp Youne. The specimens from which my figures of this species of Grebe have been taken, were lent me by my noble and kind friend the Right Honourable the Earl of Dersy, who received them from North America, where, as I am assured, it is not uncommon, although it has not been my good fortune to meet with it. FEiarep Doscuick or Greer, Podiceps auritus, Nutt. Man., vol. ii. p. 256. Earep Grebe, Podiceps auritus, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. v. p. 108. Adult 13, wing 534. Very rare, and not found by me in America. Adult Male. Bill shorter than the head, as broad as high at the base, compressed and slightly recurved toward the end; upper mandible with the dorsal line straight and slightly declinate to beyond the nostrils, then direct, but slightly descending toward the tip, the ridge convex, the edge incurved, the tip acute; lower mandible with the angle long and extremely narrow, the dorsal line beyond it ascending and slightly convex, the sides sloping outwards and a little convex, the edges direct, the tip acute. Nostrils linear, basal, rather small, pervious. Gap-line almost straight, being a little recuryate. Head of moderate size, oblong, compressed; neck long, slender; body depressed. Feet short, large, placed close to the extremity of the body; tibia feathered to within two-twelfths of an inch of the joint; tarsus extremely compressed, its anterior edge with a row of small scutella, the sides with broad scutella, beyond which are some irregular scales, the posterior edge with a double line of small prominent scales; first toe very small, with an inferior membrane, fourth longest; anterior toes scutellate, connected at the base by a membrane, and having on both sides an expanded web-like margin, marked with oblique lines, and having a crenulate edge; claws flat, that of the third toe very broad, obliquely obovate, abrupt. Plumage very soft, blended, on the lower parts silky, on the back glossy PLA82. rawr hore. Nittire b¢ SD TAU ERS ELS. WEE (O ~) ( Chevid Ze ter J Male 4 Kung. bist Fear’ Lith Printed & (oUF b T Bowen, Phidlaad* EARED GREBE. 999 and rather compact. Feathers on the occiput a little elongated; a tuft of very long, loose, linear feathers on each side of the head, rising from over and behind the eye, and covering the ears. Wings small, acute; primaries much curved, the first longest, the second almost equal, the rest rapidly graduated; secondaries short, rounded. ‘Tail a slight tuft of loose feathers. Bill black, tinged with blue. Iris blood-red. Feet dusky-grey externally, greenish-grey on the inner side. The tufts on the sides of the head are orange, anteriorly more yellow, posteriorly red; the head and upper part of the neck are deep black; the rest of the upper parts brownish-black, the Wings greyish-brown, with a broad patch of white, the secondary quills being of that colour. The throat, fore part and sides of the neck are dull black, its lower part with some spots of the same; the rest of the lower parts glossy silvery-white, excepting the sides of the body and rump, which are light red. Length to end of tail 13 inches; bill along the ridge 14, along the edge of lower mandible 143; wing from flexure 5-8; tarsus 13; hind toe and claw 42; second toe to the end of the claw 1,8; third toe 2; fourth toe 24. Young in autumn. In this state the tufts of the head are not developed, and the feathers of the neck are softer. The bill is greyish-blue, dusky above; the feet as in the adult. The upper parts are brownish-black, the neck tinged with grey behind; the secondary quills are white; the throat and a broad band, curving beneath the ear so as almost to meet the other on the nape, greyish-white; the neck brownish-grey all round at its upper part; the lower parts silvery- ‘white, the sides of the body and rump tinged with dusky-grey. 324 THE PIED-BILLED DOBCHICK. ~+-Propicers CAroLinensis, Lath. PLATE CCCCLXXXIII.—Mats anp Femate. There go the little Dobchicks, among the tall rushes and aquatic grasses that border the marsh. They have seen me, and now I watch them as they sink gently backwards into the deep water, in the manner of frightened frogs. Cunning things! ‘Water-witches,”’ as they call you, I clearly see your bills, although you have withdrawn all of you save those parts, and sneak off towards yon great bunch of bulrushes. Well, speed on, and may + safety attend you! Nature has granted you means of eluding your enemies, and I am heartily glad to see that you have profited by her instructions. I know you can fly too. How happy must you be, to be thus enabled to migrate through the air, instead of being obliged to labour for months with your curiously scolloped feet, in removing from one country to another, as authors say you do. Ah! you have reached a small secluded pool, where you intend to breed in peace and security; there you are, collecting rushes and weeds to form a large matted bed, on which you intend to deposit your pearly eggs. Labour on, mind me not, I am a true friend and admirer of your race. Isee that among these plants you have fixed your tenement, in which there will soon be five eggs, which, although tinged with green, will look as if pure white. I wish I knew how many days of constant heat from your bodies it will require to hatch them. Some other time perhaps you may tell me. Miniatures of yourselves I now see swimming gaily, skipping, springing, gliding, dipping, just like yourselves. So, you snatch the crawl- ing bug, and gorge yourselves with leeches, fish, and herbage. How fast your young ones grow, changing from downy to hairy, and again to feathery and silky. On winglets they now cross the clear pool, and crawl on the opposite shore, there enjoying the warmth of the bright sunbeams. Septem- ber has come; plump and strong seven of you there are; the evening is calm and beautiful; you spread out your wings, reach with some difficulty a proper height, and swift as meteors glide through the air, until, meeting with warmer waters, you alight on them, and there remain for a season. The Pied-billed Dobchick may be met with in almost every part of the United States, at one season or other: in the south and west during autumn INS SG PLASS. ee WEH. Si a ; ; 4 Mule, &, Pernale Drawn hove Nitlire YY ST AUdubonFRSFLS Lith Printed & Ob by TT Bowen, Prdad ® THE PIED-BILLED DOBCHICK. 325 and winter, in the east and north-west in spring and summer, mostly on fresh waters of all descriptions, yet when these are covered with ice, on bays and estuaries, where it searches for shrimps and fry, although under other circumstances such haunts are not congenial to it. It is found in New Brunswick ‘and Nova Scotia, but I did not meet with it in Labrador or Newfoundland. I had the good fortune, on the 28th of June, to stumble upon a nest of this bird near the banks of the Wabash river, above Vincennes. It was large for the bird, raised several inches above the muddy and reedy shores of a pond, only a few feet from the water, and composed of decayed weeds, rushes, and earth. On being discovered, the sitting bird slid over the mud, along a path that led directly to the water, in which it immediately dived, and I saw no more of it for about twenty minutes. The eggs, which were five, measured an inch and a quarter, by seven and a half-eighths, were smooth, rather rounded, and of a light greenish-white colour. On breaking one of them, I found it to contain a chick considerably advanced, which induced me to leave the rest untouched, and before I departed I saw the bird, which I believed to be the female, swimming low at a distance. I watched it for some time, but could not discover another, and walked away to allow it to resume its occupation. The nest was fixed among the stalks of strong reeds, but was not attached to any of them. In the month of August, while on the Cayuga lakes, I saw one of these birds with a brood of young about half grown, but could not obtain a single specimen, as they dived with extreme quickness, and eluded all pursuit. Few birds plunge with more rapidity than this species, which, during submersion, employs its wings, as I had an opportunity of observing while some were passing under a boat when I was in pursuit of them. On the water it is almost impossible to catch them, unless they have been injured in the wing, when they are unable to dive without difficulty. The curious habit which they have of sinking gradually backward in the water, at the sight of an enemy, is very pleasing to observe. Not a ripple do they leave on the spot where they have disappeared, and one unacquainted with them ean hardly conceive that a’bird could have escaped in so dexterous a manner. My friend Tuomas MacCuLtocy gave me an account of one which, having . been observed on a small mill-dam, was pursued by the miller’s sons, who, after chasing it fully an hour, could not even drive it on shore. Their father, however, who was as anxious as themselves to see the curious crea- ture, drained the pond, when the little thing was seen crawling over the mud in a manner not unlike that of a turtle. It was now easily caught, as it was not able to rise on wing, the species, it seems, being incapable of spring- 326 THE PIED-BILLED DOBCHICK. ing from the ground, and was afterwards given to my young friend, who presented it beautifully prepared to me. While I was at Philadelphia, my learned and staunch friend the late Dr. Ricuarp Haran, received two Pied-billed Grebes alive, which had been caught in a fishing-net on Brandywine creek. We placed theni in a large tub of water, where we could see all their subaqueous movements. They swam round the sides of the tub in the manner of the Puffin, moving their wings in accordance with their feet, and continued so a much longer time than one could suppose it possible for them to remain under water, coming up to breathe, and plunging again with astonishing celerity. When placed on the carpet, they ran awkwardly half erect, for a distance of a few feet, tumbled over, and scrambled along with the aid of their wings. Nothing could induce them to eat, and after a day or two of captivity, the little creatures were taken to the Delaware, and set at liberty. This bird retires to rest on the floating beds of rushes met with in ponds, or on the edges of the shores; and in such places you may see it sitting upright, and dressing its plumage in the sunshine. They are extremely unwilling to rise on wing, unless during their migrations, or when chasing each other at the pairing season, which commences in March, when they manifest a good deal of pugnacity. On such occasions, the males fly, dive, and rise again on wing, in the manner of the Foolish Guillemot. While travelling, elevation, when the movements of their wings produce a sound like that of a they pass rapidly through the air, at times at a considerable Hawk stooping on its prey. ‘They are seldom found in parties of more than six or seven. The idea of migrating by water is quite absurd. How long would it take a Dobchick to swim from the mouths of the Mississippi to the head waters of the Ohio; and when arrived there, after six or seven weeks of constant paddling, how is he to proceed farther? Yet it is well known that they breed farther north, and are general on the southern waters early in October. The food of the Pied-billed Dobchick consists of small fry, plants, seeds, aquatic insects, and snails; along with which they swallow gravel. They seem to form particular attachments to certain ponds or small lakes, where, until they are closed by ice, you may always observe a pair or a family. Opposite Henderson I regularly saw a couple every autumn, and my friend the Reverend Joun Bacuman has observed a group of them for many winters in a small pond a few miles distant from Charleston. They seem to have a dislike to swift-running streams, and when on them keep to the eddies along the shores. The curious double pectination on the hind part of their tarsi, seems to aid them greatly while sitting upright on the broad leaves of water-lilies, on the surface of which I have observed indented THE PIED-BILLED DOBCHICK. 327 impressions after the birds had plunged into the water from them. The young differ in colour from the adult, but the old males and females resemble each other, only the former are larger. PopicErPs CAROLINENSIS, Bonap. Syn., p. 418. Popiceps CAROLINENSIS, Pied-bill Grebe, Swains. and Rich. F. Bor. Amer., vol. ii. p. 412. Piep-siLL Doscuicx, Podiceps carolinensis, Nutt. Man., vol. ii. p. 259. Piep-siLt Dogcuick, Podiceps carolinensis, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. iii. p. 359; vol. v. p. 624. Male, 14, 23. Extremely common in autumn on all our Western streams, as well as those of the Atlantic Districts. In winter in the Southern States, as far as Texas. Breeds on the Wabash, and other streams of the interior, to Maine. Migratory. Adult Male. Bill shorter than the head, stout, deep, compressed, tapering. Upper mandible with the dorsal line nearly straight at the base, curved towards the end, the ridge slightly flattened for a short space at the base, narrow in the rest of its extent, the sides convex towards the end, the edges sharp, inflected, the tip obtuse, a little decurved. Nasal groove broad, and extending beyond the middle of the mandible; nostrils elliptical, lateral, sub-medial, pervious. Lower mandible with the angle long and narrow, the sides nearly erect, but convex, the dorsal line very short and sloping upwards, the edges inflected, the tips narrow, the gap-line nearly straight. Head rather small, oblong, compressed; neck rather long; body depressed. Feet placed far behind, short, stout; tibia bare for a very short space below; tarsus short, much compressed, thin before and behind, anteriorly scutellate, on the sides with large scutelliform scales, posteriorly rough, with a double row of very small scales. Hind toe very small and situated high; fourth toe longest, third a little shorter, second much shorter; anterior toes connected by webs, which beyond the second joint are slit and rounded, the outer edges of the second and fourth furnished with broad lobed membranes; the lobes are marked with parallel grooves, directed a little forwards. Claws of fore toes depressed, that of middle toe resembling a human nail. Plumage blended, on the forehead with stiff enlarged shafts, as in the Rails, on the back shining and rather hard, as well as on the lower part of the neck anteriorly and laterally, on the rest of the lower parts glossy and hair-like. Wings very small; primary quills curved, the second longest, first slightly shorter, third longer than first; secondary short, broad, rounded, the inner elongated and more tapering. Tail a slight tuft of loose feathers. Bill pale blue, upper mandible dusky along the ridge, and with the lower 398 | THE PIED-BILLED DOBCHICK. having a black spot beyond the middle. Iris brown. Feet greyish-black. Upper part of the head and the throat black; neck and sides of the head light greyish-brown, the stiff edges of the feathers on the lower part and sides of the neck greyish-yellow; back brownish-black, as are the inner secondaries; the outer light brown, with a reddish-white spot on the end of the inner web; primaries light brown, dusky at the end. The breast is silvery-white, the abdomen brownish-grey, and the sides mottled with the same. Length to end of tail 14 inches, to end of wings 12, to end of claws 18; extent of wings 23; wing from flexure 449; bill along the ridge +9; along the edge of lower mandible 13%; tarsus 135; middle toe 2, its claw +4. Weight 15 oz. Adult Female. The female wants the black band on the bill; but is in other respects nearly similar to the male. Weight 13 oz. Male. Mouth 7 twelfths wide; the palate flat, with two longitudinal ridges on each side; the anterior part with three. The tongue is 10 twelfths long, slender, slightly concave above, trigonal, tapering to a thin horny point. Qsophagus 8 inches long, $ inch in width along the neck. The proventriculus, 5 c, forms a very large sac, as in the other species, 10 twelfths in width; but the stomach, ede f, although still very large, is more muscular in structure, and ap- proaches in character to a true giz- zard. It is of an irregularly elliptical form, 1} inches long, 14 inches broad; there are distinct lateral muscles 5 twelfths thick, a very prominent in- ferior muscle, e, and large oblong tendons. The epithelium is very thick, dense, tough, with remarkably strong longitudinal rugs, transversely fissured, and also lining the large pyloric cavity, f, which is 8 twelfths A in extent. The proventricular glands are exceedingly large, those in the middle being 3 twelfths long, and 3 twelfth broad; they form a belt 12 inches in breadth. The intestine forms 8 folds, and measures 31 inches in length; its width at the upper part is 33 twelfths, at the lower 3 twelfths. THE PIED-BILLED DOBCHICK. 329 The cceca are only 3 twelfths long, and 1 twelfth broad. The cloaca is globular, and of moderate size. The trachea is 5 inches 10 twelfths long, much flattened; 12 twelfths in breadth, toward the lower part 2 twelfths, and lastly contracted to 14 twelfths; the rings 150. The bronchi differ in this species from the rest in being composed of distinctly separated cartilaginous half rings, 15 in number. The muscles as in the other species. In another individual, a female, the stomach is of a regularly elliptical form, 1 inch 9 twelfths long, 1} inches in breadth; the muscular coat of moderate thickness, composed of strong fasciculi; the epithelium thinner and more corrugated. ‘The stomach contains a great quantity of feathers, scales of fishes, numerous elytra of aquatic coleoptera, and a fish 3 inches long, and 11 twelfths in depth. It is very remarkable, and equally singular, that all the Grebes should have the stomach distended with feathers. These bodies being indigestible, and not the remains of objects devoured, for none of these birds prey upon birds, must be swallowed for the purpose of aiding digestion; but in what manner they accomplish this object is not easily determinable. They may keep the stomach distended by their elasticity, but why should that organ require to be more so than that of the Divers, which live on the same sort of food? Vor, VIE 46 330 NEW SPECIES. NOT IN MY SYNOPSIS. During my journey to the country around and about the waters of the Upper Missouri and Yellow Stone rivers, in the summer and autumn of 1843, my companions and myself had the good fortune of procuring several new species of birds; and I feel much satisfaction in presenting them to my subscribers, who, I trust, will be gratified to see that my anxiety to please them is not in the least diminished. In publishing these new species, I have the gratification of naming some of them after those gentlemen who accompanied me on my late tour; and others, after friends connected with the science of ornithology, publicly or otherwise. With the exception of a few of these birds, procured in the bottom lands along the Missouri river, they all were found on the sterile prairies, which form the greater portion of the country visited by us; and generally during our excursions after the buffalo, the elk, or the antelope. I shall also give figures of two or three species discovered by others, within the range proposed to be included in my synopsis as appertaining to our Fauna. In the accounts given of these new species, the student will be surprised as much as I have myself been, to see how closely allied most of them are to species long since described, not only by me, but even by ALEXANDER Witson, NuTratt, and Cuartes Lucien Bonaparte. I have a series of each species now in my possession, which can be seen by any student of ornithology who may desire to examine them. rik iif EB a i 4) *) INE Sie FLAGH. WED a LP — a it VC HLPPCI — Cy 74ilult Male. 2 Terry Female Drawntrom Naiure by J.J. 2uduben, FBS FES Lith, Printed & Gol by 7 I Bowen Phila Jol FAMILY XV.*—FRINGILLIN A. FINCHES. Genus IX.J—FRINGILLA, Zinn. FINCH. HARRIS’ FINCH. FriIngIttA Harrisi, ud. PLATE CCCCLXXXIV.—Mate anp Youne. The discovery of this beautiful bird is due to my excellent and constant friend Epwarp Harris, Esq., who accompanied me on my late journey to the Upper Missouri river, &c., and after whom I have named it, as a memento of the grateful feelings I will always entertain towards one ever kind and generous to me. : The first specimen seen, was procured May 4th, 1843, a short distance below the Black Snake Hills. I afterwards had the pleasure of seeing another whilst the steamer Omega was fastened to the shore, and the crew engaged in cutting wood. This was on the west side of the river, at a place lately occupied by Indians engaged in making maple sugar. The country was hilly, the timber large, and the abandoned camp of a party of Indians, proved to us that game was abundant in the neighbourhood, as we saw the remains of Deer, Wild Turkeys and Pigeons strewed around the hut, where the pots and kettles of these sons of the forest had manufactured the sugar. As I was on the look-out for novelties, I soon espied one of these Finches, which, starting from the ground only a few feet from me, darted on, and passed through the low tangled brushwood tco swiftly for me to shoot on the wing. I saw it alight at a great distance, on the top of a high tree, and my several attempts to approach it, proved ineffectual; it flew from one to another tree top as I advanced, and at last rose in the air and disappeared. During our journey up the stream my friend Harris, however, shot two others, one of which proved a female, and another specimen was procured by Mr. J. G. Bex, who also was one of my party. Upon our return voyage, my friend Harris had the good fortune to shoot a young one, supposed to * See vol. iii. p. 49. { Ibid. p. 138. 339 HARRIS’ FINCH. be a female, near Fort Croghan, on the 5th of October, which I have figured along with a fine male. The female differing in nothing from the latter. All our exertions to discover the nest of this species were fruitless, and I concluded by thinking that it proceeds further northward to breed. Harris’ Fincy, Fringilla Harrisii, Aud. >) a Male 74, 1075. Found on the Upper Missouri. Not abundant. Adult Male. Bill dusky; head and throat black, descending by streaks of the same colour on the breast. Cheeks and a broad line nearly meeting on the nape, ash- grey; back dull bay, streaked with brownish-black; rump dull olivaceous; edge of wing whitish. Two bands of white on the wings, formed by the tips of the secondary coverts and first row of small coverts. Tail feathers brown, edged with light greyish-olive. Sides of the breast thickly streaked with black dots. The lower parts white, tinged with light brownish-yellow. Legs dusky, the claws darker. Second quill longest. Bill along the ridge 4 inch, along the gap 3; from bill to pinion 13; to end of wing 5 inches, to end of claws 64, to end of tail 7; alar extent 1074; wing from flexure 375; tarsus 7; middle toe §', its claw 4; hind toe 3’, its claw 3. Feet cinnamon colour. Young, supposed to be a Female. The general appearance is the same as the above, as well as the colouring, except that the upper part of the head is covered with black feathers, each edged with yellowish-brown, as well as the sides of the head. A streak of black descends from the base of the lower mandible, and the upper parts of the breast and sides are thickly streaked with deep brownish-rufous; lower parts as in the adult; measurements the same. The adult female exactly as in the male. PL485. INGA eentit nee ae Aaa fi ve Vale, Z. Galle ie VE Ee O an Printed Kol * by TT Bowen, Phila: Vitubow, FRS Fi Trré OK é Doo FAMILY XX.*—VIREONINA. GREENLETS. Genus I.{—VIREO, Viell. GREENLET. BELL’S VIREO OR GREENLET. ~Vireo Berry, ud. PLATE CCCCLXXXV.—Apbuvutr Mate. On the same day that Harris’ Finch was procured, Mr. J. G. Bex, who, as I have already said, accompanied me in my journey to the Yellow Stone river, &c., shot one of the species which I am now about to describe, and which I have named, it being also a new and hitherto undescribed species, with great pleasure, after Mr. Brix; the more especially as Mr. Bex is himself a person who possesses a good general knowledge of our birds, and was an excellent companion in our not unperilous rambles. This species, like other Vireos of the smaller class, is usually found in the bottom lands along the shores of the Upper Missouri river, from the neigh- ‘bourhood of the Black Snake Hills as far as we went up that river; finding it In many instances, whether in the bottom lands, overgrown with low shrubbery, or along the borders of ravines that discharge the water accumu- lating during the spring meltings of the snows that cover the upper country prairie land. In its habits it is probably more nearly allied to the White- eyed Vireo (V. noveboracensis) than to any other; as although it does not possess all the swiftness of movement and quaint look exhibited by that species, still it evinces all the movements usually observable in birds of this family. We never found its nest, although it doubtless breeds in the countries which we traversed; as on many occasions, and during the very heat of summer, we found it as far up the Missouri river as Fort Union, one of the principal and handsomest factories of the American Fur Company. Beuw’s Vireo or Greenxet, Vireo Bellii, Aud. * See vol. iv. p. 140. + Ibid. 334 | SPRAGUE’S MISSOURI LARK. Al, 612. Shores and prairies of the Upper Missouri, and probably found on all streams of the Western Territories. Male. The upper parts are light greyish-olive, tinged with grey on the head and shoulders. Wings and tail brown, edged with yellowish-olive. The lower parts and sides of the neck tinged with yellow, which increases in depth on the sides, including the inferior tail coverts. Bill along the ridge 2 inch, along the gap 4, to end of tail 414 inches; alar extent 614; wing from flexure 24; tail 13. Sides brown. Tarsus # inch; middle toe 3, its claw rather more than 4; hind toe 3, its claw }. ; Bill and feet bluish-grey, lower mandible paler. Third quill longest. Female a trifle smaller, but resembling the male in every other respect. FAMILY XIV.*—ALAUDINA. LARKS. Genus I.t—ALAUDA, Zinn. LARK. SPRAGUE’S MISSOURI LARK. ALAUDA SPRAGUEII. PLATE CCCCLXXXVI.—Mate. The first specimen of this truly interesting Lark, was procured by Mr. Isaac Sprague, another of my companions, who shot it on the 19th of June, 1843, near Fort Union, Upper Missouri. On several occasions my friend Enwarp Harris sought for these birds on the ground, deceived by the sound of their music, appearing as if issuing from the prairies which they constantly inhabit; and after having travelled to many distant places on the prairie, we at last looked upwards, and there saw several of these beautiful creatures singing in a continuous manner, and soaring at such an elevation, as to render them more or less difficult to * See voll. iil. p. 43. Tt Ibid. p. 44. SPRAGUE’S MISSOURI LARK. 335 discover with the eye, and at times some of them actually ue from our sight, in the clear thin air of that country. On the ground they run prettily, sometimes squatting to observe the move- ments of the intruder, and at times erecting their body fronting the pursuer. After procuring a good number of them, our anxiety about discovering their nest was relieved by Mr. Spracuxr, who brought us one containing five eggs; and afterwards we procured several young fully fledged. On first rising from the ground they fly in so deep and undulating a manner, as almost to preclude their being shot on the wing; and this they continue to do, forming circles increasing in extent until about one hundred yards high, when they begin to sing, and continue to do so for fifteen or twenty minutes at a time, and then suddenly closing their wings, they glide down on the prairie below. We had not been long in chase, ere we discovered that they could be approached much easier by riding after them in a small wagon, and on several excursions we all procured specimens. Sometimes when rising from the ground, as if about to sing, for some forty or fifty yards, they suddenly pitch downwards, alight, and run or squat, as already mentioned. The nest of this species is placed on the ground and somewhat sunk in it. It is made entirely of fine grasses, circularly arranged, without any lining whatever. The eggs, which usually are four to five in number, average seven-eighths of an inch in length by five-eighths in breadth, are smooth and dotted minutely all over, giving them a general greyish-purple hue. The young, after being hatched, follow the parents on the ground, and are fed with the smaller seeds of grasses, and gradually with insects, &c. They were already found in loose small flocks of eight to a dozen before we left Fort Union on the 16th of August, and some had began their migrations southward, as well as many other species of birds. Spracvue’s Missouri Lark, Alauda Spragueii, Aud. 6, 105. Found on the prairies near Fort Union. Habits somewhat similar to the European Sky-lark. Abundant. Adult Male. All the upper parts are light reddish-brown, streaked with blackish-brown; the fore neck pale yellowish, streaked around the upper part of the breast with elongated brownish-spots. Sides deeper, or nearly reddish-brown. Second primary longest, the first rather longer than the third. Secondaries nearing the end of the primaries to within three and a half eighths of an 336 SMITH’S LARK-BUNTING. inch; all the outer veins delicately edged with white. Tail emarginate, two inches and one-eighth in length, with the outer feather on each side white. The second white also, but having a longitudinal line of brownish-black on the inner side reaching nearly the whole length. Bill along the ridge % inch, brownish above, paler below; along the edge , to pinion 1,%; wing from flexure 34; bill to end of tail 6, to.end of claws +5; alar extent 104; tarsus 4; middle toe 3, its claw 4; hind toe 4, its claw 4. Legs, feet and claws light yellowish-flesh colour, and transparent. The female is very little smaller and precisely like the male. The young when fully fledged resemble the parents, but have all the upper plumage more distinctly marked. FAMILY XV.*—FRINGILLINA. FINCHES. Genus I.{—PLECTROPHANES, Meyer. LARK-BUNTING. SMITH’S LARK-BUNTING. PLECTROPHANES Situ, ud. PLATE CCCCLXXXVII.—Mate. This species was discovered by my companions, Epwarp Harris and J. G. Brextz, during an excursion on the prairies of Il]linois, in the vicinity of Kdwardsville. Several specimens were procured by those gentlemen, and the following account of its habits has been handed to me by Mr. Bett. He says— . “We found these birds very abundant on the low prairie, near a lake in Illinois, about seven or eight miles distant from Edwardsville, whilst engaged in shooting Ducks, Geese, and American Snipes. They were generally in large flocks, and when on the ground they at once began to scatter and divide themselves, rendering it difficult for us to kill more than two at one shot; they run very nimbly, and in a manner resembling that of the Bay- * See vol. iii. p. 49. 7 Ibid. ON : PLAGO. aE f- ay ID eee aS Ass Oo Wedd 00? é Male Drawn tom Nadure by JL AidubonINSHL § LUA Printed & COL" by 77 Bower. Pia ibe hi a SEAS POLY T VOMIT L [AY pg 10) 79 PPM UT SLY CU RONPUE L LNG MMR Ulddd UML LN SEC oA WES ¢ Gi WH oe Vie » “A9b Td OG 4N SMITH’S LARK-BUNTING. 337 winged Bunting (Emberiza graminea), when they arose, which they seldom did until very nearly approached. They utter a sharp click, repeated several times in quick succession, and move off with an easy undulating motion, for a short distance, and alight very suddenly, like many other birds of this family; seeming to fall as it were perpendicularly for several feet to the ground. They seemed to prefer the spots where the grass was shortest. When a single one arose it would fly a short distance and realight; but if three or four started together, the remainder became alarmed, and the whole flock (sometimes containing several hundreds) would start simultaneously. When in the air they flew in circles to and fro for a few minutes, and again alighted. We could see the white spot on the wing, either when they were on the ground or on the wing. We could see them much better among the grasses whilst on horseback, and seldom saw them on the wing unless disturbed; and when in the air they kept up a constant chirping or call, somewhat resembling that of the Little Red Poll; and very frequently a couple would separate themselves from the great flock, and would pursue one another as if in play or with the desire to fight, and again return to the main body. It was too early in the season and no nests were found; indeed it is probable that this species removes far to the north to breed. I have honoured this species with the name of my good friend GrpEon B. Smits, Esq., M. D., of Baltimore, Maryland, who has done much for science in several of its departments. SmitvH’s Larx-Buntine, Plectrophanes Smithii, Aud. 6 Prairies of Illinois, &c. Very abundant. Male in April. All the upper parts are light dull yellowish-brown, streaked with brown- ish-black. A medial line on the head, another over the eye, with the cheeks and whole lower parts, of the same dull yellowish-brown as the upper surface, streaked on the breast and along the sides with brownish-black.