172 NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA 61, FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



Naknek Lake, and Brooks Lake in 1940, which he believed were 

 of this species, and Gabrielson, in 1940, observed the species 

 at various points along the base of Alaska Peninsula. 



Taber reports Larus argentatus wintering at Adak Island, but 

 specimens were not obtained. Sutton and Wilson observed a 

 few among the gulls wintering on Attu Island. 



We saw no herring gulls on any of our expeditions. 



Larus argentatus vegae 



According to the 1931 Check-List, this gull "occurs casually in 

 Bering Sea and on the coast of Alaska to the Aleutian Islands." 

 Swarth (1934) obtained three gulls of the argentatus type from 

 Nunivak Island, which could not be satisfactorily identified. 

 Many of the sight records of herring gulls centered around the 

 base of Alaska Peninsula, where they appeared to be too common 

 to be the Siberian-ranging vegae; all such records are here in- 

 cluded under smithsonianus. 



Clark (1910), referring to Larus vegae, says: "This gull was 

 rather common in Unalga Pass, near Unalaska, and was seen 

 again, though not in any numbers in Avacha Bay, Kamchatka." 



There is at least one specimen of this gull — a female collected 

 by F. L. Beals at Unalaska on February 14, 1942. 



Larus delawarensis: Ring-billed Gull 



In 1911, Wetmore recorded in his field notes: "In August I 

 noted a few ring-billed gulls about the head of the lagoon back 

 of King Cove, where they were feeding on dead dog salmon, 

 that lay in a creek bed. I shot one for identification but did 

 not preserve it." 



This is the only record of this species west of Prince William 

 Sound. 



Larus canus: Mew Gull 

 Larus canus brachyrhynchus 



Turner (1886) makes the surprising statement that "Among 

 the Aleutian Islands these birds congregate in many thousands 

 on the cliffs to breed." Obviously, this is an error, since he 

 describes very well the nesting habitat of kittiwakes, and not 

 the marsh or lake habitat chosen by the short-billed gull. In 

 view of this, it is hard to credit his further remarks on the 

 food habits of this gull at Atka and Amchitka. 



Nelson (1887) states the situation more in keeping with the 



