THe WHitTE-WINGED FLEET 
the firm, spreading tops that grew into an almost 
solid platform. 
By September the breeding season is nominally 
over, but on account of the pillaging of nests by 
fishermen, there were still a considerable number 
of the young 
Gulls not yet 
able to fly. They 
had? alllett the 
nests, having 
found some way, 
probably with 
they (pauemts? 
Inedipe Ot der 
scending to the 
ground. It was 
a comical sight, 
those odd, mot- 
ANOTHER STUDY OF THE WESTERN GULL t l € d ) pat t l yi, 
BY OTTO VON BARGEN downy partly 
) 
These studies were made in San Francisco harbor, where the 
large Gulls,— as a class ordinarly very wary,— have become, fledged, we b = 
through protection, almost fearless of man, especially the imma- 
ture individuals, which the photographs represent. fo ote d crea- 
tures, as large as pullets, that were wandering about 
in the woods everywhere, pattering over the spruce- 
needle carpet, or else trying to hide by squatting 
under some bush or thick low growth. All the eggs 
were hatched that would do so, but now and then we 
found an addled one in the nest, a great dark drab 
affair, heavily spotted with black, larger than a hen’s 
egg. I was struck with the similarity of the color 
and markings of the egg and of the young Gulls. 
The smaller youngsters looked for all the world like 
eggs with stilts stuck into them below, and a neck 
135 
