TREASURE-TROVE AT THE SHORE O35. 
all through North America, they do not nest on the Atlantic 
coast south of Maine. For this reason, we seldom see 
them between May and October, and that is the very time 
that you children and people in general visit the shore.” 
“Tt must take a pretty big tree to hold a Gull’s nest,” 
said Dave, picking up the bird and weighing it in his hand; 
“it’s lots bigger than a Crow.” 
“Yes; a Gull measures two feet in length (that is, from 
the tip of its beak over its back to the tail, which is the 
way the length of a bird is reckoned), and is quite three 
feet across the spread of its open wings, while the body 
of the Crow is five inches shorter and the wings only 
spread a little over two feet. 
“You probably noticed, the other day, what very long, 
pointed wings the Gulls have. But though these Gulls 
do sometimes nest in fairly high trees and in bushes, it is 
not common, and their favourite place is on the gray 
shingle, and among the stones of rocky beaches well above 
tide-water, or else between tussocks of beach grass or 
sheltering pieces of driftwood. 
“ As a Gull’s chief food is gleaned from the sea, it must 
nest as close as possible to its source of supply. You 
can easily see that so large a bird could never be free from 
annoyance on our bathing beaches or offshore islands that 
are used as summer resorts; so, as people flocked to the 
shore, more and more, the places where Gulls might nest 
in comfort grew fewer and fewer, and they were driven to 
the remote islands like those off the Maine coast, Great 
Duck Island, No Man’s Land, and others, and it is at 
Great Duck Island that is to be found the largest colony 
of Gulls within the United States. 
