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 neighbourhood. They were extremely gentle, scarcely heeded us, and flew around our boats so close that any number might have been procured. My son JOHN 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, the 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 buoyancy that of some of our Terns more than that of most of our Gulls, which move 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.