GULLS 



45 



Herrinsx Gulls breed on the rocky islands off 

 the coast of Maine and thence northward. Fre- 

 quently they assemble in very lartje numbers at 

 this season. Probably lo.ooo nest annually on 

 Great Duck Island and the colony on the island 

 of No-Man's-Land, Maine, has of recent vears 

 been even larger. The nests are made of grass 

 and are often hidden in clumps of grass, bv the 

 side of logs or among piles of bowlders. Within 

 a few days after hatching the young are able to 

 run about and when a visitor walks through a 

 breeding colony at this time the young birds go 

 scuttling away in every direction like so many 

 dirty little sheep. Although hard to catch thev 

 at once become docile when picked up. I have 

 sometimes amused myself by laying them on their 

 backs where they will often remain perfectly 

 still imtil a row of half a dozen have thus been 

 assembled. 



Apparently these Gulls are their own wrirst 

 enemies, as hundreds of young are annually 



killed by the old birds, who peck them on the 

 head. Unfortunately the young appear to be 

 unable to distinguish between parent and neigh- 

 bors, and when an old one alights nearby thev 

 come up trustingly in quest of food; frequently 

 swift death is their reward. 



Formerly hundreds of thousands of this 

 species were killed in summer for the millinery 

 trade ; but the Audubon Law^ now makes this a 

 misdemeanor in every State where they are 

 found, and wardens employed by the National 

 .Association of Audubon Societies to-day guard 

 all the important breeding colonies in the United 

 States. 



There are nesting communities of them at 

 various places in the interior as, for example. 

 Lake Champlain, Moosehead Lake, and the Great 

 Lakes. A very similar subspecies known as the 

 Western Gull {Larus occidciitalis ) inhabits the 

 Pacific coast of North America. 



T. GiLBKKT Pe.\RSON. 



General Description. — Length. 23 

 pure white with pearly-blue mantle. 



Color. — Adults in Summer: Mantle, pearly-blue; 

 outer primaries, black with white spots and tips, the 



CALIFORNIA GULL 

 Larus californicus Lawrence 



A. O. U. Number 5^i 



inches. Ci'lor. black grading to a narrow bar on si.xth primary; sec- 



ondaries, white-tipped; rest of plumage, pure white; 

 bill, chrome yellow, a vermilion spot at angle below 

 with a small black spot above; feet, dusky hlnish-qrccn; 



Photo by W. L. Finlcy and H. T. Bohlman 



CALIFORNIA GULLS 

 They generally nest in colonies on the inland lakes of western tJnited States 



