FRANKLIN GULL 
59. Larus franklini. 15 in. 
Adult in summer.—Hood dark; mantle lighter than , ae 
the last species; primaries gray with black ends broadly | #— 
tipped with white; underparts rosy; bill and feet red, | 
the former dark toward the tip, and more slender than 9 
that of the Laughing Gull. In winter, the plumage * 
changes the same as that of the last but the color of the 
primaries and the shape of the bill will always indentify 
this species. These gulls are strictly birds of the inte- '/y 
rior, nesting on low marshy islands in ponds or sloughs, 
often in company with grebes, upon whose eggs they 
subsist to a great extent. 
Notes.—Similar to those of the last species. 
Nest.—A mass of weeds, ete., on the ground in 
marshes, often partly floating in the water. The eggs | 
are similar to those of the Laughing Gull but the mark- Fa 
ings are usually in the form of zigzag lines as well as Siemmec: 
spots (2.25 x 1.60). 
Range.—Interior of North America, breeding from | 
Iowa and the Dakotas north to Middle Canada; winters 
from the Gulf States southward. 
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