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Gulls
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Bills of moderate length, the upper mandible not swollen at the tip like the jaegers, but curved over the end of the lower mandible. Wings long, broad, strong and pointed, though their flight is less graceful than a tern's. Tail feathers usually of about equal length. Sexes alike, but the plumage, in which white, brown, black, and pearl-blue predominate, varies greatly with age and season. In flight the bill points forward, not downward like a tern's. Gulls pick their food from the surface of the sea or shore, whereas terns plunge for theirs. Gulls are the better swimmers, and pass the greater part of their lives at sea, coming to shore chiefly to nest in large colonies.
Kittiwake Gull.
Glaucous Gull, or Burgomaster.
Iceland Gull.
Great Black-backed Gull.
Herring Gull.
Ring-billed Gull.
Laughing Gull.
Bonaparte's Gull.
Terns
(Subfamily Sterinoe)
Small birds of the coast rather than the open sea. Bill straight, not hooked, and sharply pointed. Outer tail feathers longer than the middle ones; tails usually very deeply forked. Legs placed farther back than a gull's, and form of body more slender and trim. Great length and sharpness of wing give a dash to their flight that the gull's lacks. Bill held point downward, like a mosquito's, when tern is searching for food. Plumage scarcely differs in the sexes, but it varies greatly with the season and age. Usually the top of head is black; in the rest of the plumage pearl grays, browns, and white predominate. Tails generally long and forked, so that in aspect, as in flight, the birds suggest their name of sea swallow.
Marsh Tern.
Royal Tern.
Wilson's Tern, or Common Tern.
Roseate Tern.
Arctic Tern.
Least Tern.
Black Tern.
Skimmers
(Family Ryncbopidoe)
Only one species of skimmer inhabits the Western Hemisphere. These birds have extraordinary bills, thin, and resembling the blade of a knife, with lower half much longer than the upper mandible, and used to skim food from the surface of the water and to open shells. Wings exceedingly long; flight more measured and sweeping than a tern's.
Black Skimmer, or Scissor Bill.
JAEGERS AND SKUAS
(Family Stercorariidoe)