28 WATER-BIRDS IN THEIR HOMES. 



When we are at the seashore we may be puzzled to see so 

 many different kinds of gulls. But while there are very many 

 species of gulls, it is rare for more than three or four to be 

 seen in one locality, and these may be ])etter distinguished by 

 their size than by their colors. Adult gulls are always pure 

 white, with or ^v^thout a pearl-gray " mantle " on the back and 

 upper surface of the wings, and with or without black wing- 

 tips. Adult gulls never show any other colors except upon 

 the bill and feet, which may be flesh-color, red, or yellow. 

 The only other conspicuous marking is a black or dark gray 

 head which is seen in some of the smaller species during the 

 breeding season, and which disappears later. 



Young gulls are more or less brown according to their age, 

 and the young of some species show a black bar across the end 

 of the tail, a black crescent between the shoulders, or a brown 

 mantle. These are all sure marks of immature birds. 



The largest of our common gulls is the American herring 

 gull, which is seen on both seacoasts, about the Great Lakes, 

 and near most of the large lakes of the interior. The Western 

 gull which largely rei3laces it upon the Pacific coast, is scarcely 

 distinguishable in life. Of the medium-sized gulls — those 

 about eighteen inches long — the kittiwake of the northern 

 Atlantic, the black-headed laughing gull of the southern 

 Atlantic, the ring-billed gull of the plains and interior 

 states, and the beautiful Heerman's gull of the Pacific, with 

 its gray body, white head, and red feet and bill, are the more 

 conspicuous. The black-headed Franklin's rosy gull of the 

 interior, often called the " prairie dove " by the farmers, be- 

 longs to the group of small-sized gulls, and the black-headed 

 Bonaparte's gull is a smaller bird, everywhere well known, 

 both East, West, and in the interior. However, we very rarely 

 see a Bonaparte's gall with a black head, as this is the mark 



