BIRDS FOUND NEAR SHORE OR IN BAYS 87 
another lesson. In the meantime he watches his par- 
ents filching food from nestlings around him, and as 
soon as he dares, or can find a bird more helpless than 
himself, he tries the plan. He finds it much easier than 
catching a bobbing sardine in the water, and from that 
time his career in crime begins. 
51. HERRING GULL. — Larus argentatus. 
Famity: The Gulls and Terns. 
Length : 23.25. 
Adults in Summer: Head, throat, and under parts white ; mantle pearl- 
gray; white tip of first primary separated from large white spot 
farther up by blotch of black half an inch wide extending to the tip ; 
eyelids yellow ; feet pale flesh-color. 
Adults in Winter: Similar, but mottled with ash-color on head and 
neck. 
Young: Grayish brown, streaked or mottled on head, neck, and upper 
parts with dull whitish ; quill-coverts and tail-feathers rusty black. 
Downy Young: Soiled white; head irregularly spotted with black ; 
back, wings, and tail washed with ashy. 
Geographical Distribution: North America in general; in summer 
from latitude 40° northward ; south in winter to Cuba and Lower 
California. 
Breeding Range: Inland lakes from latitude 43° to the Upper Yukon, 
Alaska. 
Breeding Season: Approximately, May 15 to August 1. 
Nest: A slight depression in the ground, lined thinly with grasses ; near 
water. 
Eggs: 3; varying from blue-white to yellow-brown, blotched with light 
and dark brown. Size 2.80 X 1.75. 
THIS is a common gull throughout its range, and 
differs from other species in its abundance around rivers 
and harbors. It is the gull seen following the ferry- 
boats on San Francisco Bay, perching on the anchored 
fishing craft in Monterey harbor, and sitting on the 
buoys at San Diego, and tormenting the seals at Santa 
