32 



North American Birds Eggs, 





•^^3^ 



'# 







[50.] Siberian Gull. La/'?/.s- at'fiiiis. 



This bird does not nest in North America, and has a place on our list, by its 

 accidental occurrence in Greenland. It is an Old World species and its nesting 

 habits and eggs are like those of the Herring Gull. 

 5 1. Herring Gull. Lariix (injcntdtiis, 



Kange.— Whole of the Northern Hemisphere, breeding from Maine and British 



Columbia northward and wintering south to the Gulf. 

 This Gull, which 



formerly was No. 51 a, a ^___^^ 



sub-species of the Euro- ^ •»' — ^ - 



pean variety, is now 



regarded as identical 



with it, and is no longer 



a sub-species. It is 



twenty-four inches in 



length, has a light gray 



mantle and black prini- 

 V- aries which are tipped 



with white. The Herring 



Gulls nest in colonies 



in favorable localities 



throughout their range, 



chiefly on the coasts and 



islands. A few pairs 



also nest on islands in 



some of the inland 



bodies of fresh water. 



Except in places where 

 -^-- they are continually 

 ^; molested, when they will build in trees, they place their nests on the ground, 

 J'~ either making no nest on the bare sand, or building a bulky nest of seaweed in 



the grass on higher parts of the island. They lay three eggs of a graj'ish color 



marked with l)r()wn. In rare cases unspotted bluish white eggs are found. 



Size 2.H X 1.7. Data. — Deer Is. Maine, June 11, 1891. Three eggs ; nest of 



weeds and grass on high portion of the island. Collector, R. N. Knight. 



52. Vega Gull. Lfirus vcgce. Range.— Coast of Alaska, 



south in winter to Califor- 

 nia. 



Similar to the Herring 

 Gull, but with the mantle 

 darker, but not so dark as 

 in the Western Gull. The 

 nesting habits and eggs 

 are the same as those of the 

 Herring Gull, except that 

 in a series, the eggs of the 

 Vega will average a little 

 darker in ground color. It 

 nests during May on the 

 coasts and islands of Ber- 

 ing Sea, placing its eggs 

 in a hollow on the ground. 

 Size 2.75 x 1.65. Data.— 

 Yukon River, June 20, 

 1899. Nest a large mass of 

 weeds on an island in the 

 river. Collector, J. Weston. 







, I!ri_i\vni-^h buff.l 



