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Strong, Habits of (he Herring Gull. 



fAuk 

 iJan. 



ON THE HABITS AND BEHAVIOR OF THE HERRING 

 GULL, LARUS ARGENTATUS PONT. 



BY R. M. STRONG. 



I. Introduction. 



It is the purpose of this paper to describe the results of work 

 which was begun with the idea of studying bird habits intensively. 

 I learned through Mr. Henry L. Ward, curator of the Milwaukee 

 Public Museum, that colonies of Herring Gulls were to be found 

 breeding on islands off both coasts of the peninsula which forms 

 Door County, Wisconsin, i. e. in Green Bay and in Lake Michigan 

 (See Fig. 1.) 



These birds seemed to be especially favorable for my purpose 

 because: (1) they nest in rather compact colonies on the ground 

 and in more or less open places so that many individuals can be 

 seen and studied to advantage, and (2) their considerable size and 

 largely white plumage make them among the best bird subjects for 

 the indispensable photographic records. Furthermore, I had 

 already had some experience with these birds, especially during 



