74 Tin-: Wilson Bulletin — No. 59. 



the form of the establishing; of recortls of the occurrences of the 

 si)ecies alons the Detroit Kiver and Lake Erie shore. This bird is 

 one of luy puzzles. Unless near enough to see the bill I have uerer 

 been able to identify it, but the pui'pose of this note is to call at- 

 tention to the fact that iu June of 1905 I was on an island about 

 fifty miles south of Mauitoulin and near the head of the Bruce Penin- 

 sula, where this bird breeds in quite large numbers. The nests were 

 not counted, but there must have been at least one hundred. We 

 collected eight or ten sets of eggs and their absence was scarcely 

 noticeable among the occupied nests. In 190G I visited other islands 

 in Lake Huron about fifty miles southwest of the above location, 

 forming part of a chain, extending from the upper end of the pen- 

 insula to its base. One island was occupied entirely by the Common 

 Tern, another by the Ring-billed Gull, and the third by the Herring 

 Gull. In view of these two known localities in Lake Huron where 

 the birds nest in considerable numbers and the strong probability 

 that it is equally abundant on other islands, one is forced to the con- 

 clusion that the reason why tliis bird is not more frequently record- 

 ed is the great difficulty in identification by sight. On both of the 

 occurrences referred to I made the attempt to separate the birds as 

 they sailed around, but failed absolutely. I did succeed in learning 

 that the note of the Ring-billed is pitched in a higher key than that 

 of the Herring Gull and was able to separate them in that manner. 

 From my experiences in the nesting of this bird on Lake Huron I 

 would judge that it is equally as common as the Herring Gull and 

 that the only reason why records are not made a bit more frequently 

 is that it is so difficult to identify. W. E. Saunders. 



