LOWER KLAMATH LAKE 299 



passed dark, low-lying, snaky Cormorants; dainty pearl- 

 plumaged Gulls, riding high and bouyantly, or fluttering 

 anxiously ovei' tlioir venturesome young; stately, snowy 

 Pelicans like t'uU-rigged ships; Ducks with theii- little fleet 

 of downlings, or Western Grebes carrying their chicks on 

 their backs. 



Overhead lines of Pelicans came sailing home, bearing 

 cargo for their young, and clamorous flocks of Gulls rose 

 suddenly, to continue in the air some dispute begun in the 

 reeds, to which, shortly, they all returned. 



These Gulls appeared to be equally divided among the 

 California and Ring-billed species. They were the most 

 abundant birds in the rooker}^ and nested on nearly every 

 island. Some nests were in close proximity to those of the 

 Pelicans and Cormorants, but none were seen near those of 

 the Caspian Terns. The greater numl)er, however, were 

 some distance from the shore, where the tules were still up- 

 right in the tangle of the preceding years' growth. Such 

 places were infested with young Gulls, clad in mottled gray 

 down, which ran back into the denser growth or tucked 

 themselves into interstices in the reeds where they were 

 easily overlooked. It was not until I entered the blind and 

 the returning parents called their young from their hiding- 

 places, that I became aware of their abundance. The place 

 was overrun with them. 



As the old birds, one after the other, dropped down to 

 the reeds about the blind, the noise and confusion was be- 

 wildering. The young birds apparently claimed parentage 

 of any old one, but when in error, were promptly disowned 

 with far from tender nips, treatment which, if they saw it, 

 the real parents promptly resented. Then followed a battle 

 of wings and voices which was quickly settled with some- 

 times loss of feathers but never of blood. 



I have listened for hours to the calls of Gulls without 

 divining their significance. These birds, in common with 

 other members of their genus, threw their heads upward like 



