GULLS 



4.1 



Jiii/Toii' z(.'liitr til^s: rest of primaries and secondaries, 

 with white tips ; bill, chrome yellow with red spot at 

 anijle : feet, brownish flesh color; iris, yellow. .Adults 

 IX Winter: Similar to snmmer plumage, but head and 

 neck streaked with dusky, and yellow of bill duller. 

 Young: Dull whitish, varied everywhere with shades 

 of brown and dusky ; tail, plain brown ; primaries and 

 secondaries, brown with white tips ; bill, pale flesh color, 

 dusky at end : legs, flesh color ; iris, brown. There is 

 much variation in the amount of dusky color in indi- 

 viduals; young of the year are sometimes almost 

 entirely sooty-brown ; this changes with the gradual 

 acquisition of lighter tips and edges of the feathers, 

 finally reaching the perfect adult plumage in three years. 

 Nest and Eggs. — Nest: Sometimes on the ground, 

 occasionally in trees ; ground nests usually mere depres- 



sions with scant nesting material; tree nests bulky and 

 well constructed of strongly interwoven grass and moss. 

 Ki;(;s: 3. light bluish or greenish-white to dark olive- 

 brown, irregularly blotched, spotted, and scrawled with 

 dark brown and black. 



Distribution. — Xorthcrn hemispliere ; in .America 

 breeds from south-central .Alaska, across British 

 -America to Cumberland Sound, south to British Colum- 

 l)ia, across the United States on about the parallel 43' 

 to Maine, and in P2urope south to northern b'rance and 

 east to White Sea ; winters from northern border of 

 United States southward to Lower California and west- 

 ern Me.xico, and from Gulf of St. Lawrence and the 

 Great Lakes south to the Bahamas, Cuba, Yucatan, and 

 coast of Texas, and in Europe to Mediterranean and 

 Caspian seas. 



The most ahiiiKlant CiuU along the .Atl.intic 

 coast of the L'nited States is the familiar Her- 

 ring Gull. It is the sjiecies we hnd follmving the 

 coast-wise ships looking eagerly for any scraps 

 of food that are thrown overboard from the 

 cook's gallev. .\t low tide we may find them, 

 often bv htmdreds, standing on the exposed bars 

 and mud flats. They come into the harbors and 

 flv about the ])ier.. They wander far up the 

 rivers and are continually met with even on the 

 smaller lakes of the intenor. Their food crm- 

 sists l.-irgelv of tish, ;uid the fact that some deni- 

 zen of the fleep m;iy have been dead many days 



before the waves cast it upon the beach makes no 

 difference with them. They are as fond of 

 carrion as is a \ ulture. One j)eculiar habit thev 

 have is the breaking of clam shells in a most 

 tinusual manner. \Mien the water is low they 

 sail over the mud flat until a clam is discovered. 

 Dropping down they grasp it in their feet and 

 fly away to a portion of the beach where the sand 

 is packed hard and here from a height of forty 

 or fifty feet they let it fall. I have seen one 

 repeat this performance fotirteen times before 

 the shell broke and allowed it to enjoy the feast 

 it so much craved. 



Adult 



Drawing by R. I. Brasher 



HERRING Gtn,L 

 ^i nat. size) 



The most abundant Gull along the Atlantic coast of 

 the United States 



