FRANKLIN'S GULL 



By HERBERT K. JOB 



%^t iRational Si00omtion ot jaudubon ^otinit& 



EDUCATIONAL LEAFLET NO. 44 



In late April or early May, when the rich black soil has thawed at the surface, 

 the settler of the northwest prairies goes forth to plow. The warm season is short, 

 and his tillage vast, so he delays not for wind or storm. One day he is dark as 

 a coal-heaver, when the strong winds which sweep almost ceaselessly over the 

 prairie hurl upon him avalanches of black dust. Next day, perchance, in a driv- 

 ing storm of wet snow, he turns black furrows in the interminable white expanse, 

 his shaggy fur coat buttoned close around him. Then comes a day of w^arm 

 sunshine, when, as he plows, he is followed by a troup of handsome birds which 

 some might mistake for White Doves. Without sign of fear, they alight in the 

 furrow close behind him, and, with graceful carriage, hurry about to pick up 

 the worms and grubs which the plow has just unearthed. Often have I watched 

 the plowman and his snowy retinue, and it appeals to me as one of the prettiest 

 sights which the wide prairies can afford. No wonder that the lonely settler 

 likes the dainty, familiar bird, and in friendly spirit calls it his 'Prairie Pigeon,' 

 or 'Prairie Dove.' 



It is indeed a beauty, a little larger than a domestic Pigeon, with white plu- 

 mage, save for the grayish "mantle," the dark slaty "hood" over head and neck, 

 and the black-tipped wings. It often passes so near that one can see that the 

 white underparts have an exquisite rosy blush, which can be likened to that of 

 the peach blossom. In reality, it is not a Pigeon or Dove, but a Gull, one of 

 the several Rosy-breasted Gulls of the northern regions, the Franklin's Gull or, 

 as the earlier ornithologists called it, the Franklin's Rosy Gull, so named in honor 

 of the arctic explorer. Sir John Franklin. 



In Audubon's time few white men had penetrated "the Great American 

 Desert," or seen this handsome Gull which Dr. Richardson had discovered 

 in the "fur countries." Audubon himself had never met with it alive, and has 

 no picture of it in his great work, in which he described it from the only two 

 stuffed skins available, brought from the Saskatchewan country, probably by 

 some explorer or fur-trader. Indeed, little has been known or written about it 

 till within quite recent years. Accounts of its habits in the standard works have 

 been very meager and unsatisfactory. It is distinctively a bird of the prairies, 

 ranging over both dry land and marshy lakes throughout the region of the great 

 plains, mostly west of the Mi-ssissippi valley, to the Rocky mountains. Its range 

 extends north to the northern parts of the continent, and south in winter to 

 Central and South America. 



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