282 _ Roperts, Nesting Habits of Franklin's Gull. ae 
part on them. When driven off they all swam rapidly away in a 
body and circled around at a safe distance, only to return imme- 
diately as soon as the coast was clear. In clambering up onto 
these frail nests they tipped and nearly sank the whole affair, but 
it nevertheless afforded sufficient support for them to lie for hours 
basking in the sun, often on one side, with the head held awk- 
wardly up, and one leg waving clear of the water —a curious 
attitude, which it took us some little time to make out in detail 
with the aid of our glasses. 
In conclusion a word may be said in regard to the food habits 
of Franklin’s Gull. Everything goes to show that it, like most 
birds, eats that which is nearest at hand and easiest to get pro- 
vided it is at all suited to its wants. During the nesting season 
at least, the food is almost exclusively insectivorous. The stom- 
achs and gullets of several birds collected by the writer and kindly 
examined by Prof. Beal of the Biological Survey at Washington, 
contained a mass of insect débris to the exclusion of all else. One 
stomach alone furnished some fifteen different species, among 
them several varieties injurious to the interests of man. The 
chief part of the food, however, during the time of our visit to the 
colony, and that on which the young were largely fed, was the 
nymphs of dragon-flies which were then to be found in immense 
numbers in the meadows near by. The writer counted no less 
than three hundred and twenty-seven of these insects in a single 
stomach. Earlier in the season when the farmers are engaged in 
plowing, especially when ‘breaking’ the virgin prairie, many of 
these Gulls accompany the teams and eagerly contend with a horde 
of Blackbirds, Black Terns and other birds in securing the larvee 
and worms turned up by the plow. Immense numbers of angle- 
worms, and many grubs of the cockchafer, are at times devoured 
in this way. Later in the season when grasshoppers have become 
plentiful the upland prairies and dry knolls become the feeding 
grounds and a diet of these ill-favored insects takes the place of 
all else. The aquatic life that is consumed as food is taken prin- 
cipally very early and late in the season and is probably of such a 
nature that it can in no way modify the conclusion that Franklin’s 
Rosy Gull, besides being an object of great beauty and esthetic 
value, has a prosaic and practical side revealed by the nature of 
