BIRDS OF KANSAS. 23 



surface, often dropping upon a fish with a force that carries 

 them nearly under. They do not tarry k)ng in the harbors for 

 the offal, and are, in their food habits, I think, less parasitic 

 than many others of the same family. 



The birds winter on the coast but breed inhand, and in com- 

 munities, upon the islands in the larger ponds and lakes. Cap- 

 tain Chas. Bendire found them breeding abundantly on Lake 

 Malheur, Oregon, and Mr. Robert Ridgvvay, at Great Salt Lake 

 and Pyramid Lake, in the month of May, 1868. , 



Their nests are usually placed upon rocks and bare spots of 

 dry ground, but occasionally on the tops of low standing bushes; 

 and are made of grasses, sticks, feathers, or any loose material 

 at hand, and are slightly hollowed in the center. Eggs, usually 

 three or four. One set of three eggs, taken May 31st, 1883, 

 by Mr. W. C. Flint, on the Farallones Isles, measure: 2.84x1.96, 

 2.80x1.96, 2.88x1.92. Ground color bluish white to brownish 

 gray, rather thickly spotted, sometimes more or less blotched, 

 with occasional zigzag markings of various shades of brown, 

 and shell stains of lilac; in form, oval to ovate. 



Larus delawarensis Okd. 



RING-BILLED GULL. 

 PLATE II. 



Migratory; quite common. Arrive the last of April, to first 

 of May; returning in September. 



B. 604. II. 639. C. 778. G. 300, 7. U. 54. 



Habitat. North America at large; south in winter to Cuba 

 and Mexico. Breeding in high northern latitudes. 



Si'K-CiiAR. "Smaller than L. calif ornicvs, the bill more slender, and without 

 red spots, the mantle much paler, the Iris yellow, and feet greenish yellow in 

 the adult. Adult, in summer: Mantle pale pearl blue ( much as in L. argen- 

 tatus, much paler than in L. hradiyrhyachus or L. canus ), the secondaries and 

 tertials passing terminally into pure white. Outer primary black, with a white 

 space 1.25 to 1.50 inches long near the end, involving both webs, the shaft, 

 however, black; second quill similar, but with the white space smaller, and the 

 extreme tip also white; third, with basal half pale pearl gray, and the apical 

 white spot larger; next similar, but the subterminal black more restricted, the 

 line of demarcation between it and the pale pearl gray still more sharply de- 

 fined; fifth pale pearl gray, passing terminally into white, but crossed near the 



