PACIFIC COAST GULLS. 



215 



markets of San Francisco. I remember how horrified I was when 

 1 first heard this. It is to be hoped that such practices may cease, 

 for if persisted in year after year the gulls and other sea birds will 

 soon be as scarce as are terns on the coast of New Jersey and herons 

 and pelicans on the Florida islands. 



The most numerous of the gulls along the Pacific coast was the 

 western gull (Larus occidentalis), a pure white bird with a slaty 

 mantle. The young of this species have a dusty gray plumage. I 

 saw many Heermann's gulls (Larus heermanni) at San Diego — slaty, 

 blackish birds with a pure white mantle and smaller than the western 

 gull. The young are of a pure slate color. A number of other 



Western Gulls. 

 Larus occidentalis. Larus californicus. 



species were seen frequently along the coast; the glaucous- wing gull 

 (Larus glaucus), a large white bird with pale pearly mantle; the 

 ring-billed gull (L. delawarensis), smaller, white, with pale mantle 

 and black tips to its wings; the California gull (L. californicus), 

 almost the size of the western gull, with a paler mantle. 



When one thinks of a gull, it is alwavs in connection with the 

 seacoast, but it does not follow that you can only study the gulls 

 beside the ocean. The American herring gull (Larus smithsoni- 

 anus), an interesting member of the family, is frequently found 

 hundreds of miles inland. It is a most useful bird to the farmers 

 in Utah. I saw large flocks in the fields near Salt Lake City. They 

 will follow the plow, just as the robins and blackbirds do in the 



