144 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



the garbage dumps near St. Michael. During the fall and winter 

 they forage regularly with the larger gulls about the harbors and 

 shores where garbage and other offal is to be found. 



Behavior. — In its flight and swimming habits the short-billed gull 

 does not differ materially from the larger species. Mr. Hersey 

 observed that the adults show considerable curiosity, following the 

 intruder about over the tundra, and that the young are even tamer, 

 circling about within 15 or 20 feet for several minutes at a time, 

 turning the head from side to side and watching intently, but 

 making no sound. 



Doctor Grinnell (1900) remarks: 



Their usual notes are louder and sharper than those of the glaucous gulls 

 and remind one of the bark of a terrier. 



Doctor Nelson (1887) says: 



They show considerable curiosity upon the appearance of an intruder, and 

 very frequently follow one for some distance, uttering a sharp, querulous 

 "kwew," kwew." When one or more are shot the others circle about a few 

 times, but show very little solicitude over the fate of their companions. Fronr 

 the 18th to 2.5th of July most of the young are able to fly, and early in August 

 old and young gather along the courses of streams or near the larger lakes. 

 From this time on many of the birds are found also about low spits and mud 

 flats along the coast. The young frequently follow boats for long distances on 

 a stream or near shore, and they are so unsuspicious that they may almost 

 be knocked down with a paddle. The old birds pass through the fall moult 

 the latter half of August, and by the middle of September they are in the new 

 dress and gradually disappear from the north, until by the end of this mouth 

 they become rare. In September they fraternize more commonly with the 

 kittiwake than at any other season in the bays and along the coast. 



Mr. Hersey's notes, however, state : 



When the young are well grown and able to fly tbey join the flocks of 

 glaucous gulls feeding about the bays and tide creeks. They appear to prefer 

 the society of this species to that of their own kind, as I have repeatedly 

 observed. Flocks of adult short-billed gulls have been met with continually 

 without seeing any young, but practically every flock of glaucous will contain 

 at least two young short bills. Generally two are found together, probably a 

 family. 



Winter. — The fall migration carries the short-billed gulls down 

 the Pacific coast to their winter range from Puget Sound to southern 

 California, where they are fairly common all winter, associated with 

 Pacific kittiwakes, glaucous-winged, western, herring, and Bona- 

 parte's gulls — a mixed party of seacoast scavengers. Mr. W. L, Daw- 

 son (1909) gives the folloAving account of this species on the coast of 

 Washington in winter : 



A certain childish innocence and simplicity appear to distinguish these birds 

 from the more sophisticated herrings and glaucous-wings. They are the small 

 fry of the great gull companies which throng our borders in winter, allowed to 



