Vol. XVII 
1900 
Roserts, Nesting Habits of Franklin's Gull. 277 
colony, we settled down to quiet contemplation and study of the 
Gulls and their doings more in detail. All of two days and the 
greater part of a third day were thus spent, and what we saw in 
and about this bustling, ever changing community proved so en- 
grossingly interesting and entertaining that the hours spent under 
a blazing sun within the narrow confines of little ducking boats 
glided rapidly by and proved all too short. The only discordant 
feature was the almost unbearably harsh and never ceasing out- 
cry that rang continually in our ears. Now somewhat subdued 
for a few minutes, now breaking out again with redoubled energy, 
the wild chorus of shrill screams and cat-like calls made such a 
deep and lasting impression upon the listeher that for many hours 
afterward it was utterly impossible to still the memory of the 
whole loud painful outcry. 
The nests were all built of the same material — old water 
soaked bull-rushes — with sometimes a few fresh stems worked into 
the upper part. A heavy foundation of the thickest and longest 
rushes is first laid, forming a partly submerged platform held in 
place by the standing rushes about it, the whole being two to 
three feet across at the water line. Upon this the rather well 
made superstructure of finer material is constructed, with a long 
slope from the water’s edge up to the! rim of the nest, which is 
raised eight inches to a foot above the water. The cavity is 
eight to ten inches in diameter and three to four in depth, and is 
rudely lined with bits of fine rush tops and coarse grass. The 
inside is always perfectly dry, being several inches above the 
water. The variation in the nests was not very great, being 
merely as to general bulk and height. Much of the material of 
which the nests were constructed had been carried from a dis- ' 
tance, probably from the neighboring shore where the rushes, 
loosened by the ice, had been cast up in heaps. The Gulls carry 
with apparent ease these great heavy rushes, and were often to 
be seen flying about for a considerable time with the long stems 
dangling from their bills. The nests were kept in good repair, and 
as they became trampled down or the rim disarranged the owners 
were to be seen putting things to rights or adding a new rush 
here and there as it was needed. At the time of our visit many 
young were already out of the shell, but there were also many 
