Bonaparte’s Gall.
Sterna Philadelphia, Ord, Guthrie's Geog. two Am. edit., vol. ii. p. 319.
Lana Bmapartei, Richards and Swains. Faun. Bor.-Amer., vol. ii. p. 425.
Xema Bonaparteii, Bonap. Geog. and Comp. List of Birds of Eur. and N. Amejr-, p. 62.
Chroicocephalus Bonapartei, Bruch.
— P h ila d e lp h ia , Baird.
T h r o u g h o u t the entire course o f the present work I have found it difficult to determine where the line
should be drawn with regard to the admission o f the few American birds that have from time to time been
killed* in our islands into the ‘ Birds o f Great Britain. Generally speaking, I have included those which
iphabit the extreme northern pari: of America and omitted those that find a natural home in its more
southern division, such as the two. species o f Cuckoos ( Coccyzus) , the belted Kingfisher, Red-winged
Starling, and » few others. W ith regard to Bonaparte’s Gull, I find it has been admitted into the lists of
British bird* published by the hue Mr. Yarrell and all subsequent writers ; I feel bound therefore to follow
in their wake i and hence it is that a figure of it appears here.
Mr. Hatting, in his ‘ Handbook of British Birds,’ gives the following instances o f the occurrence o f this
Gull on t i l l mdc o f the Atlantic.
One, on the Lagan, near Belfast, 1st o f February 1848.
One, on Loch Lomond, April 1850.
One, on an.English lake: Yarrell, Hist, Brit. Birds, vol. iii. p. 555.
One, Dublin Bay, July 1864.
One, Falmouth Harbour, autumn 1864.
“ This species,” says Yarrell, in the second Supplement to his British Birds, p. 53, “ was first characterized
in the ‘ Fauna Boreali-Americana,’ by Richardson and Swainson, in 1831. It is there stated that this handsome
small Gull is common in all parts o f the fnr-conntries, where it associates with the Terns, and is distinguished
by its peculiar shrill and plaintive cry. It has since been received from Greenland.” Mr. Thompson, in his
‘ Birds o f Ireland,’ mentions that a specimen of this little Gull, the first o f the species known to have visited
Europe, was killed at the tidal portion of the river Lagan, between Ormeau bridge and the Botanic Garden,
about a mile above the lowest bridge, ut the town o f Belfast, on the 1st o f February, 1848; it was flying
singly. The person who shot the bird, attracted by its pretty appearance, merely left it to be preserved
by a taxidermist. who, on the receipt o f any turds, either rare or unknown to him, was in the habit o f taking
them to St»’. Thompson for his inspection; the bird was therefore examined previously to its being skinned,
and exact nwswsireraents were made. Another example was shot in Ireland on the coast near the Skerries.
A specimen was obtained oh Loch Lomond in 1851, another on one of the lakes o f England-; and one
more besides those here enumerated has been procured since the publication o f the first occurrence o f the
species.
The following passage «KfiaMS in the account this species, published by Audubon in the fourth volume
o f his * Ornithological Biography ;'—
“ No sooner do the shads and old-wivex enter the bays and rivers o f our midland districts, than this Gull
begins to show itself on the eMttt, feNowtBg these fiahet cut V dependent upon them for support—which,
however, is not the ease; for the time when these mhakittuiis df the deep deposit their spawn in our
waters, the Gull has advanced beyond the eastern limits o f the United States. However, after the first of
April, thousands of Bonapartian Galt* are seen gambolling over the waters of Chesapeake Bay, and proceeding
eastward, keeping pace with the shttdta o f fishes.
“ During my stay at Eastport, in Maine, in May 1833, these Gulls were to be seen in vast numbers in the
harbour o f Passamaquody at high water, and in equal abundance at low water on all the sand and mud bars
in the neighbourhood. They were extremely gentle, scarcely heeded us, and flew around our boats so close
that any number might have been procured. Their stomachs were filled with coleopterous insects, which they
caught op 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 o f August 1831, when at Eastport, I shot ten
o f these Gu!k. The adult birds had already lost their dark hood ; and the young were in fine plumage. In
the stomachs of all were shrimps, very small fishes, and fat substances. The old birds were still in pairs.”
The Plate represents a fully adult male in summer plumage, and a bird, in change, both o f the size o f life.