92 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 



2000 Herring Gulls on the beach at Ipswich. On July 27th, 1903, between 

 2000 and 3000 of these birds were there. On the latter date, in a strong 

 northwest wind, the birds alighted in a long line stretching from the edge of the 

 sea, where the beach (see page 21) had extended out within a few years, back 

 over the sand, through the small lagoon of water to the dunes. This was a meas- 

 ured line of 320 yards. The birds varied from two or three up to twenty in a 

 yard, the line of Gulls being extended in places to a breadth of several yards. 

 Counting eight in a yard as a moderate average, this would make 2560 birds. 

 Although the majority of the Gulls were in various stages of immature plumage 

 from the dark gray to the mottled and to the nearly white, a considerable num- 

 ber were in full adult plumage, with snowy breasts, pearl gray backs, and bright 

 yellow bills. 



Another fact which is not easily explained on the barren-bird theory is the 

 great variation in numbers of the Gulls. Although they are always abundant, 

 yet at times, as when the beaches are covered with dead fish, the number of 

 Gulls increases suddenly. In late May and early June, when nests are being 

 built and eggs laid on the Maine coast, the adults have sometimes been seen 

 copulating on Ipswich Beach. 



It seems to me reasonable to suppose that some, perhaps only a few, of 

 these Gulls are daily excursionists from their breeding places to the beaches of 

 Essex County for the food to be found there. At forty miles an hour, the hun- 

 dred miles distance would be to them not more than a ten or twelve mile walk 

 for us. 



Coasting along the shore of Maine, in June, one finds comparatively few 

 Herring Gulls south of Penobscot Bay, except the little groups of half a dozen 

 to thirty or forty in the harbors and coves along the shore. These birds are 

 mostly adults, but immature in all stages are common. Farther out at sea the 

 birds are usually flying southwest in the morning and northeast in the evening. 



In a yachting trip from Kittery to Northeast Harbor and back as far as 

 Portland, from June 1 ith to June 23d, 1904, I took especial note of these points, 

 and was convinced that the Herring Gull was in the habit of taking long excur- 

 sions for food. Thus on June 13th, I saw a flock of fifty of these Gulls circling 

 around some 300 or 400 yards up in the air off Cape Porpoise, near Portland, 

 Maine, drifting slowly to the westward and frequently calling to each other. 

 Suddenly, about half past eight in the morning, they ceased calling and all made 

 off in a scattered flock towards the southwest, each bird flying rapidly and in a 

 straight line. They were soon lost to sight. In the evenings towards sunset, 

 scattered flocks of Herring Gulls were seen flying northeast along the shore. 



Dutcher and Baily ' in their study of the Gulls at No-Man's-Land and 



1 Wni. Dutcher and W. L. Baily : Auk, vol. 20, pp. 417-431, 1903. 



