714 THE GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULL. 



Dozcny yoiiiKj: Bill ami fed hlack: ildwn chiefly grayish white, upperparts 

 spotted and strijjcd in intricate bnt characteristic pattern with grayish black. 

 Yonng-of-thc-ycar: Bill hlack; plnniage grayish dusky, nearly uniform below, but 

 above varied by coarse spotting of dull white and (or) pale huffy. Second year 

 young: As in jireceding Init hill flesh-colored basally ; ])lumage lightening and 

 clearing somewhat irregularly, but wings and tail darker by contrast : the tips of 

 the primaries dusky gray, sometimes appearing almost blackish. .Ipproacliiiig 

 maturity: L^pperparts ashy- to pearl-gray, but some clouding of dusky on wing- 

 coverts ; terminal portions of primaries of darker gray than in adult and not dis- 

 rnictly white spotted and tipped ; underparts more or less marked with dusky : bill 

 blackish, clearing (yellow) except in subterminal band, where black jiersistent in 

 diminishing area. Length of adult very variable: 23.00-28.00 ( 584.2-71 1.2), 

 average about 26.50 (673.1 ) ; wing 16.00-17.40 (406.4-442) ; bill 2.10-2.60 (53.3- 

 66), depth at angle .70-.90 (17.8-22.9); tarsus 2.65 (67.3). 



Recognition Marks. — The commonest Gull ; absence of black in wing dis- 

 tinctive. Smaller and more darklj- colored than L. glaucus (H) ; 2nd primary 

 narrowly tipped with white as compared with /,. nelsoni (H). 



Nesting. — Nest: of grass, etc., scanty or abundant, placed on sloping hill- 

 side or upon rock-ledge of island or promontory, coastwise. Eggs: 3 ( second 

 sets 2), nvate or short ovate, grayish, greenish, bufty, or ]iale olivaceous as to 

 ground color, boldly and heavily and irregularly spotted and blotched, or lightly 

 round-spotted, with rich browns (superficially) or gray-browns (deep-seated). 

 Av. size, 2.00 .X 2.00 (73.7x50.8). Season: June; one brood. 



General Range. — Both coasts of tlie North Pacific and Bering Sea, breeding 

 on the American side from Washington northwarrl ; smuli in winter tn California 

 and Japan. 



Range in Washington. — Aljundant winter resilient and migrant on Puget 

 Sound and the harbors of the West Coast ; occasional in the interior ; breeding 

 sparingly on the San Juan Islands, and commonly on the Olympiades south to 

 Destruction Island. 



Authorities. — Baird and Lawrence, Rep. Pac. R. R. Surv. IX. 1858. p. 

 843. T. C&S. L'. Rh. Kk, B. E. 



Specimens. — P. Prov. B. BN. E. 



TO the West-sider at least, there is no bird \\liM>e appearance calls iii) in 

 re\'iew such a swift pageant of beauty and romance as that of the Glaucous- 

 winged (juII. The inhabitant of a seaport town knows him as an hahitiie of 

 harbor and wharfage; the excin'sionist knows liim as a picturesque accompani- 

 ment of tra\-el by water; while the ad\'enturer knows him as the rightful 

 owner of those storied battlements of stone which line and guard our western 

 shores. 



To the city man, especially, the gull is the one visible point of contact with 

 the Great Beyond of Nature. Pray, consider what a bene\'olent miracle it is 

 that these most inii)ro\ident of God's creatures, the birds, are impelled to loiter 

 for a season about the doorste]) of a great city. These thronging docks up- 

 borne b\^ close-set i)iles. and housing the wares of Occident and Ind, wdiat are 



