THE CALIFORNIA GULt 21 



are plentiful and wish to know how to recognize the differ- 

 ent kinds can obtain a government bulletin on gulls that 

 will enable you to identify at least the most common ones. 

 The greater part of the readers of this book are located 

 where sea gulls are not common and for this reason they 

 will not be interested in knowing much about the differ- 

 ent kinds. 



The gulls are great lovers of the water, and are known as 

 sea gulls because they frequent the shores of the ocean 

 ■everywhere. Of course we find them on practically all of 

 the large fresh water lakes. A few years ago my friend 

 Captain Graham, who has been a salmon fisher most of 

 his life either on Puget Sound or on Columbia River, 

 invited me to go with him to lift his salmon nets. Early 

 the next morning we got into his gasoline launch and 

 started down the sound to the nets. We did not notice an 

 unusual number of gulls on the way and even when we 

 reached the nets and the men began raising them I did not 

 notice more than an occasional specimen flying about. It 

 took something like an hour to raise the nets and get 

 ready to take out the fish. I noticed that as the work pro- 

 gressed gulls in ever-increasing numbers flew about, ap- 

 parently much interested in what was going on; but not 

 being well acquainted with their habits I did not pay 

 much attention to this, and the fishermen were so used to 

 their presence that they said nothing. When the scow 

 was pulled up along side and the men began taking the 

 fish out of the net, the gulls came from all directions by 

 hundreds. The fisherman's net in modern days is very 

 much like those on the Sea of Galilee of which the Sa- 

 vior said, "The kingdom of heaven is like unto a net 

 that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind. 



