Chapter 37

GULLS AND TERNS AT HOME

Gull Island was only a great sand heap, anchored by rocks and covered with coarse grass; but the children had hardly taken a few steps along the beach when they began to exclaim at the number of strange birds. Some were flying, others walking about on the sand, where there were many tufts of grass and mats of seaweeds that looked as if they had been used for nests. Dodo nearly stepped upon a couple of greenish, dark-spotted eggs, that were nearly as large as a Hen's. "Are the Gulls still nesting, Uncle Roy? And what are those dark streaky birds over there?"

"These are left-over eggs that did not hatch, for nesting is over in July at latest, and the dark birds are young Gulls in their first plumage. They are brownish gray, streaked and spotted as you see, while the old birds are snow-white with pearl-gray backs, and black and white wing-markings in the summer, though their winter dress is not quite so pure, being streaked with gray on the neck."

"Then the very dark Gulls I have seen off our beach in winter are the young ones?" said Rap; "I never knew that before. I don't believe many people remember how birds change their colors, and a great many never heard about it at all, I guess."

"Gulls walk very nicely," said Nat. "Much better than Ducks; and how they bob up and down like little boats when they float!"

"Wake! wake! wake! wake!" screamed half a dozen, flying up as if to tell the Brotherhood of the coming of strangers.

"What can be the matter with all those Sea Swallows on the other side of the island?" asked Nat as they walked across, and a flock of a hundred or more Terns angled by, crying mournfully. "What a very sad noise they are making--do you think they are afraid of us?"

"They have reason enough to cry and be sad," answered Olaf, who was walking on, a little way ahead. "They have been driven from almost all these islands--shot for their pretty feathers, and had their nests robbed. There wouldn't be any here now, only that some people pay the light-keeper at the little island yonder to see that the law is kept and that no one hunts them here. See! He is coming over now to find out what we are doing here!"

"Who are the people that pay him, Uncle Roy?"' asked Dodo; "the Wise Men?"

"Yes, the Wise Men, and some Wise Women too. You can give a part of the money in your tin bank to help the poor birds if you wish."

"Oh yes--that is--I forgot," and Dodo whispered in her uncle's ear that she, as well as Nat, was saving money to buy Rap a _whole_ bird book for Christmas.

"It seems to be a very open place for nests, out here on the sand," said Rap. "I suppose the little Gulls and Terns must be hatched with down-feathers on." "Yes--though they are not able to take care of themselves as quickly as young Ducks. But as soon as they can leave the nest, they walk down to the water's edge and eat a sort of gluey stuff that floats in on the water. So you see that unless the law protected them they might be very easily stolen or destroyed before their wings were strong enough to fly."

"It must be very cold for them here in the winter."

"It would be if they were obliged to stay; but both Gulls and Terns scatter all over the country to winter, though the Terns travel much further south."

By this time the lighthouse keeper had made his way over to them. Finding who they were, he invited them to bring their luncheon and row over to Little Gull Island with him, to see the lighthouse.

There was a dancing breeze when they turned homeward that afternoon; the boat canted saucily, and little feathers of spray kept tickling Dodo's nose.

"Are there any more water birds that we are likely to see this fall?" asked Nat, as the Gull Islands disappeared behind them.

"There will be great flocks of Wild Geese coming down from the North, and they often rest on the mill pond; or a Loon may chance down the river, and a Grebe or two."

"Are Geese Ducks?" asked Dodo, and then laughed with the others at the question.

"Not precisely--no more than rats are mice," said the Doctor; "but both Ducks and Geese belong to the same family."

"And what are the others--the Loons and Grubs--are they wading or swimming birds?" "_Grebes,_ not grubs," laughed the Doctor. "Loons and Grebes are swimming birds, like Ducks or Gulls, but both belong to quite a different order from any of the others and each of them belongs to a family of its own. They can barely move at all on land, and spend all their lives on the water, excepting in the nesting season, when they make curious floating nests of dead herbage in reedy marshes. Their logs are placed in such a backward position that they can sit upright in the water and swim as if they were walking, only keeping the tip of the bill above the surface."

"How can they get away if any one hunts them?" asked Rap.

"They can dive at the flash of a gun and swim long distances under water. Our familiar Pied-billed Grebe or Dabchick disappears so suddenly, that 'Water Witch' is one of its common names."

"What a lot of birds there are to watch for this fall!" said Nat very anxiously. "I only wish I knew how much more time we shall have before father and mother come for us."

"Why, there is one of the men from the Farm with a team," said Rap, as they tacked close to the beach half an hour later. "He is waving a letter or something, I think."

It did not take the party long to land, or the Doctor to read his letter, which said that Nat's and Dodo's parents were coming to the Farm in a couple of days.

"So we must go home to-morrow," said the Doctor.

"I want to see mother awfully much," said Dodo, "and father too; but don't you think if you told them bird stories, Uncle Roy, you might be able to coax them to make you a long visit before they take us home?"

"_I_ think father would rather go up to the logging camp, and see the coons that Rap says they catch there in the fall; there are red foxes, too, he says, and little fur beasts."

The Doctor did not give them a very satisfactory answer; but if they had looked they would have seen a merry twinkle in his eye. And Dodo, who had learned not to tease during her happy summer, nestled up to Olive and said, "I smell a secret somewhere, but I can wait; for I know that hereabouts secrets are always nice surprises."

When five more tables had been written--the last ones Uncle Roy gave the children this summer--they were like this:

The Canada Goose

Length three feet or more.

Body brown above, gray below, with black head, neck, tail, and long feathers of the wings, the tail white at the roots above and below, the head with a large white patch like a napkin folded under the chin.

Bill and feet black, the toes webbed like a Duck's or tame Goose's; but the wild Canada Goose is not the kind that our tame Geese came from.

A Citizen of North America, and a great traveller in spring and fall, when flocks fly high overhead in a wedge-shaped figure or in a long line, with one old Gander leading, and all crying "honk, honk, honk!"

The nest is placed on the ground, sometimes on a tree or cliff, in various parts of the United States and Canada. The flesh is excellent for the table if the roast Goose is a young tender one, but beware of an elderly Wild Goose!

The American Herring Gull

Length two feet.

Plumage pure white, with a pearly-blue mantle on the back and wings, the long feathers of the wings marked with black.

Bill yellow, with a red spot, stout and hooked at the end. Feet flesh-colored, the front toe webbed like a Duck's or Goose's, but the hind toe very short indeed.

In winter the head and neck streaked with gray. Young birds all patched with gray and black, the bill black.

A Citizen of North America, and a member of the guild of Sea Sweepers. He nests in summer in the Northern States, and in the fall travels south. He can sleep standing on one leg or floating on the water. His nest is usually built on the ground, but sometimes in a tree. He goes fishing and clamming for a living.

The Common Tern or Sea Swallow

Length thirteen to sixteen inches, according to the length of the tail, which is deeply forked with slender outside feathers, like a Barn Swallow's.

Plumage pure white, with a black cap on the head, a pearl-blue mantle, and silver-black shades on the long wing-feathers, which look as if they had hoar frost on them.

Bill coral-red with a black tip, slender and very sharp, without any hook at the end. Feet coral-red, very small and weak, the front toes webbed like a Gull's.

Young ones are patched with various colors before they grow their pearly, snowy, and jet-black feathers.

A Citizen of North America, chiefly its eastern portions, who travels far north in spring and far south in fall. He nests in large colonies on the sand or shingle of beaches, and cries very sadly when House People come to steal the eggs or kill the young ones. He belongs to the guild of Sea Sweepers, and eats little fishes.

The Loon or Great Northern Diver

Length two and a half to three feet, with a long neck like a Goose's, and a stout straight black bill, very sharp-pointed.

Plumage glossy black above, with a necklace of white streaks and many square white spots on the back; under parts white from the root of the neck backwards, but the sides of the breast streaky.

Young ones are speckled gray and white, without any glossy black, and the bill is not black.

A Citizen of North America, who nests in the far North and migrates into the United States for the winter.

A famous Sea Sweeper, who can catch fish by chasing them under water. He can dive like a flash and fly more than a hundred yards under water before coming up to breathe, but is very awkward and top-heavy on land because his legs are so far back that he has to stand up on end. His nest is on the ground and his flesh is not fit to eat, being too rank and fishy. You can hear his mournful cry a mile off.

The Pied-billed Grebe, Dabchick, or Water Witch

Length thirteen inches.

Upper parts brownish-black. Breast and belly white, very smooth like satin. A black mark on the throat, and a black band on the bill, which is shaped like a Hen's. Feathers on top of the head bristly.

Feet very strange: they stick out far behind, because Grebes have no tail to be seen, and the toes are different from those of any other bird you have in your tables, being scalloped with flaps of skin instead of webbed like those of most Swimming Birds.

A Citizen of North America, whose nest is a wet bed of broken-down reeds, sometimes floating on the water of the marsh. He can dive and swim under water as well as a Loon. If you could catch one alive, he would make his flapper-like feet go so fast you could not see anything of them but a hazy film, as the Hummingbird does his wings when he poises in front of a flower.