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Thr Wilson Bulletin — No. 100 



Herring Gull {Lams argentatus) . I first identified it April 11, 

 1915, when I saw a single bird in winter plumage in the " Goose- 

 pond." Mrs. George May also reported three seen in the " Goose- 

 pond " April 16, 1911. There is one specimen in the Smith collec- 

 tion. 



Franklin Gull (Larus franklini). Specimen in the Smith collec- 

 tion. This species is an abundant migrant both spring and fall. At 

 both seasons, a flock will often follow a farmer plowing for hours 

 at a time, usually coming in the forenoon and again in the after- 

 noon, at times alighting on the plowing and resting for a half hour 

 or less. They follow the plow very closely and I have seen them swoop 

 down, capture and swallow white grubs, angleworms, and other in- 

 sects. While disking fall plowed land in the spring I have seen 

 a Franklin gull capture and swallow an adult prairie white-footed 

 mouse, although the mouse went down with difficulty. Another 

 farmer reported the gulls capturing an entire family of mice which 

 were plowed out. 



Occasionally in the spring I have seen huge flocks of these gulls, 

 after much preliminary circling, alight upon a bluegrass pasture, 

 resting there for some time, in such numbers as to make the ground 

 appear white. In the fall the young birds, with different plumage 

 from the adults, make up a majority of the flocks, which frequently 

 stay in the vicinity several weeks. Sometimes all members of a 

 flock will scatter far apart and start circling high in the air, until 

 the sky is filled with their soaring and circling forms as high as 

 the eye can distinguish them. In feeding they range over the en- 

 tire country, not confining their attention to bodies of water. When 

 feeding they usually fly in loose straggling flocks, but when mi- 

 grating, in a compact flock. Mrs. George May reported them in 

 " Goosepond " April 14, 1911. 



