GULLS 



;i 



white, the latter with rosy tint; bill, canninc crossed 

 with black near end; legs, dusky-red. Adults in 

 WiNTEk; Similar to summer plumaye. but without hood; 

 a few slaty feathers around eyes and on sides of head; 

 no rosy tint below ; bill and feet, dull. Young : Traces 

 of hood; outer 5 or 6 primaries, wholly black; mantle, 

 feray or brown, varied with bluish-gray, according to 

 age; tail, ashy-white with a broad black subterminal 

 bar ; under parts, white ; bill, dusky, paler at base below ; 

 feet, flesh color ; iris, dark brown. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest : On tlie ground among 



standing rushes and grass of marshes bordering lakes 

 or rivers; constructed of dead rushes. Eggs; 3, vary- 

 ing from dull white to olive-drab, marked with bold 

 blotches and zigzag lines of umber-brown and sepia. 



Distribution. — North and South America; breeds 

 from southwestern Saskatchewan and southwestern 

 Keewatin to South Dakota, Iowa, and southern Minne- 

 sota ; winters from the Gulf coast of Louisiana and 

 Te.xas southward to Peru and Chile; very rare on the 

 .•\tlantic coast; accidental in Utah, Ontario, Ohio, Vir- 

 ginia, and the Lesser -Antilles. 



A typical scene of the interior prairie region, 

 say in the Dakotas or Manitoba, is the farmer 

 plowing up the rich black soil, on a cold windy 

 day in early spring, followed almost at his lieels 

 by a troup of dainty white birds which are pick- 

 ing up the worms and grubs exposed to view. 



esjjecially if one be curious to know whither 

 they are roaming. Obviously, however, they are 

 Hying either to or from their nesting-ground. 



In their breeding habits they are about as dis- 

 tinct and sjiectacuhir as any other North Ameri- 

 can species. Selecting some marshy lake, where 



Phut"iir;.ph by H. K. Job 



LuurLu^y ul Uutmg Publishing Co. 



FRANKLIN'S GULLS 

 On nesting ground 



He calls them " Prairie Pigeons," a pretty and 

 appropriate title, though in reality they are 

 Franklin's Gulls. .Sometimes they have been 

 called the Rosy Gull, because when the feathers 

 of the under parts are opened up there is seen 

 to be a faint rosy flush, as delicate as that of the 

 tea-rose. 



This Gull is as typical of the prairie as is the 

 Western Meadowlark or the Prairie Horned 

 Lark, though in a different way. 1 should char- 

 acterize it as the " courser " of the prairies. 

 Bands of them are usually seen flying steadily 

 along in a line or some regular formation, utter- 

 ing flute-like cries, perpetually on the move. To 

 a degree they strike one as birds of mystery, 



reeds or rushes grow from water, thousands of 

 them will come together and build semi-floating 

 nests of dead stems, partly buoyed by the vege- 

 tation and filled in from the bottom. If a per- 

 son wade or {)ush a boat to the edge of the colony, 

 the air is full of indignant and screruning birds, 

 always graceful and beautiful, no matter how 

 e.Kcited they become. The nests are only a few 

 feet apart, each containing two or three typical 

 gull-like eggs by tlio last week of May. If the 

 intruder keeps quite slill, one or both of the 

 owners may finally alight and stand on the nest, 

 but neither will incubate as long as an\-one is in 

 sight. The downy young swim from the nests 

 soon after thcv arc hatched, and in a colonv in 



