714 THE GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULL. 
Downy young: Bill and feet black; down chiefly grayish white, upperparts 
spotted and striped in intricate but characteristic pattern with grayish black. 
Young-of-the-year:; Bill black; plumage grayish dusky, nearly uniform below, but 
above varied by coarse spotting of dull white and (or) pale buffy. Second year 
young: As in preceding but bill flesh-colored basally; plumage lightening and 
clearing somewhat irregularly, but wings and tail darker by contrast; the tips of 
the primaries dusky gray, sometimes appearing almost blackish. Approaching 
maturity: Upperparts ashy- to pearl-gray, but some clouding of dusky on wing- 
coverts; terminal portions of primaries of darker gray than in adult and not dis- 
ainctly white spotted and tipped; underparts more or less marked with dusky; bill 
blackish, clearing (yellow) except in subterminal band, where black persistent in 
diminishing area. Length of adult very variable: 23.00-28.00 (584.2-711.2), 
average about 26.50 (673.1); wing 16.00-17.40 (406.4-442) ; bill 2.10-2.60 (53.3- 
66), depth at angle .70-.90 (17.8-22.9); tarsus 2.65 (67.3). 
Recognition Marks.—The commonest Gull; absence of black in wing dis- 
tinctive. Smaller and more darkly colored than L. glaucus (H); 2nd primary 
narrowly tipped with white as compared with L. nelsoni (H). 
Nesting.—Nest: of grass, etc., scanty or abundant, placed on sloping hill- 
side or upon rock-ledge of island or promontory, coastwise. Eggs: 3 (second 
sets 2), ovate or short ovate, grayish, greenish, buffy, or pale olivaceous as to 
ground color, boldly and heavily and irregularly spotted and blotched, or lightly 
round-spotted, with rich browns (superficially) or gray-browns (deep-seated). 
Avy. size, 2.90 x 2.00 (73.7 50.8). Season: June; one brood. 
General Range.—Both coasts of the North Pacific and Bering Sea, breeding 
on the American side from Washington northward; south in winter to California 
and Japan. 
Range in Washington.—Abundant winter resident and migrant on Puget 
Sound and the harbors of the West Coast; occasional in the interior; breeding 
sparingly on the San Juan Islands, and commonly on the Olympiades south to 
Destruction Island. 
Authorities.—Baird and Lawrence, Rep. Pac. R. R. Sury. IX. 1858, p. 
843. T. C&S. L'. Rh. Kk. B. E. 
Specimens.—P. Proy. B. BN. E. 
TO the West-sider at least, there is no bird whose appearance calls up in 
review such a swift pageant of beauty and romance as that of the Glaucous- 
winged Gull. The inhabitant of a seaport town knows him as an habitué of 
harbor and wharfage; the excursionist knows him as a picturesque accompani- 
ment of travel by water; while the adventurer knows him as the rightful 
owner of those storied battlements of stone which line and guard our western 
shores. 
To the city man, especially, the gull is the one visible point of contact with 
the Great Beyond of Nature. Pray, consider what a benevolent miracle it is 
that these most improvident of God's creatures, the birds, are impelled to loiter 
for a season about the doorstep of a great city. These thronging docks up- 
borne by close-set piles, and housing the wares of Occident and Ind, what are 
