LARUS CALIFORNICUS. 637 



LaRUS CALIFORNICUS. 

 Caliloi'iiia Oull. 



(Que-nahJi'-d or Giii-ni'-hect of the Paiutes.) 



? Larus argentatoides, Bonap., Synop., 1828, 300. 



Larits callfornicus, Laweence, Ann. Lye. Nat. Hist. N. Y., VI, 1854, 79 ; in Baird's 



Birds N. Am., 1858, 846.— Baird, Cat. N. Am. Birds, 1859, No. 003.— CouES, 



Birds N.W., 1874, 034. 



Larus delawareiisis var. cali/ornicus, Coues, Key, 1872, 313 ; Check List, 1873, 

 No. 548a. 



This species was the only Gull found in the Great Basin during sum- 

 mer, but it was apparently entirely absent in winter, when its place was 

 supplied by L. delawarensis. It was abundant both at Pyramid Lake and 

 Great Salt Lake, on the rocky islands of which it nested in immense 

 colonies. At the former locality, many hundred pairs occupied a portion of 

 the northern shore of the main island, where the ground was elevated many 

 feet above the lake, with a broken ledge of rock along the shore as well as 

 above their breeding-ground. Here their nests covered several acres of 

 ground, and were thickly strewn over the surface ; each consisted of an 

 external rim of gravel and other rubbish raked into a pile, the center hol- 

 lowed out and lined with a few feathers and sticks ; the number of eggs, of 

 which many bushels were gathered for food, varied from one to four in a 

 nest, and among this immense quantity we noticed very remarkable ex- 

 tremes of form, size, and colors, the series selected for preservation illustra- 

 ting the principal of these variations. While their nests were being despoiled, 

 the Gulls kept up a constant clamor, some hovering over our heads, but most 

 of them perched in rows on the ledge of rocks back from the breeding- 

 ground. Over fifty specimens were shot, and among these .slight individual 

 discrepancies were noted, the jirincipal one being in the distinctness of the 

 black spots near the end of the bill, which in a few were entirely obsolete, 

 in some distinct on both mandibles, and in others of intermediate develop- 

 ment. The examples in the collection, enumerated below, were selected 

 with a vicAv to represent the extreme variations detected in the large series 

 examined. 



