44 



THE BIRDS OF MAINE 



Cliffs, Baccalien Island, Newfoundland, July 1, 1897. They 

 measure 2.22 x 1.69 and 2.27 x 1.61. The nest was composed 

 of grass and a little moss and placed on a shelf of a precipitous 

 cliff. The nest was barely large enough to hold the eggs and 

 had seemingly been used for years. Its diameter at base was 

 one foot, and at top eight inches; interior diameter six inches 

 and depth two inches. The eggs were advanced in incubation. 

 These handsome little Gulls are among the most graceful of 

 their tribe. They feed mainly on fish, but refuse nothing of 

 an edible nature which comes their way whether it be fresh- 

 killed or carrion, provided that it be animal in nature. They 

 are most numerous in Maine during the coldest and roughest 

 winter weather and prefer the outer, stormiest localities among 

 the islands. 



Genus LARUS Linnaeus. 



42. Larus glaucus Brunn. Glaucous Gull; Burgomaster 

 Gull. 



Plumage in summer adults : primaries peari tinted towards body ; wings 

 and back peari gray ; otherwise pure white. Adult winter plumage : differs 

 chiefly in head and neck being streaked with brownish gray. Immature 

 plumage : above and below more or less streaked or barred with ashy gray, 

 white parts often ashy tinged. Wing 17.00 to 19.00 ; culmen 2.20 to 2.60 ; 

 tarsus 2.60 to 2.96; depth of bill at angle 0.75 to 0.94 (Dwight). 



Geog. Dist. — Arctic regions, breeding from Labrador northward on the 

 American coast, and migrating south in winter to the Great Lakes and Long 

 Island. 



County Records. Cumberland ; a specimen shot at Peak's Island on April 

 27, 1883, (Brown, C. B. P. p. 37) ; I had three from near Portland in the 

 winter of 1899-1900, (Lord). Hancock; rare in winter, an adult female taken 

 at Bucksport by me, January 27, 1898, now in collection of O. W. Knight, 

 (Dorr). Knox; winter, (Rackliff). Washington; rare, winter only, (Board- 

 man). York; a female was taken in Plymouth Harbor near Kittery Point 

 by Howard P. Libby, February 14, 1891, sent to A. H. Howell and is now in 

 the collection of L. S. Foster, (Howell) . 



A winter visitor along the coast from late November to as 

 late as (exceptionally) April 27. Its breeding range on the 

 American side is in Greenland, Labrador, Hudson Bay and 



