[2.82.] BIRDS OF OREGON 



scavengers. They clean up quickly any dead birds and fish brought in 

 along the beaches and follow the migrating salmon into the streams, 

 sometimes in countless thousands, quickly consuming the fish that perish 

 after spawning. They also follow the great smelt runs into the Columbia 

 River, and the progress of the runs can be marked by the horde of gulls 

 circling and screaming over the myriads of fish. One of two stomachs 

 taken at Netarts, December 13, 1910, contained 47 Lepas anatijera; the 

 other, 18. One taken at Portland, December iz, 1914, contained scales 

 and bones from a large fish that was evidently refuse matter. The 

 Glaucous-winged Gull is conspicuous in the great numbers of birds that 

 congregate around salmon canneries, where they quickly clean up the 

 refuse. In all, these gulls do no harm while in the State and add much 

 of interest to the winter bird life of the beaches. 



Western Gull: 



Larus occidentalis occidentalis Audubon 



DESCRIPTION. "Adults in summer: Mantle dark slaty gray; primaries, including 

 inner webs of first, second, and usually third, black, tipped with white; rest of 

 plumage white. Adults in winter: top of head and back of neck streaked with dusky. 

 Young: upper parts brownish slaty, varied with buff and whitish; quills and tail dull 

 black, usually tipped with white; under parts brownish gray, specked or spotted 

 with whitish." (Bailey) (See Plate 45, A.~) Downy young: "The downy young is 

 'drab gray' above varied with 'avellaneous' or other shades of buff. Some indi- 

 viduals are grayer and others are brighter buff in color. The lower parts are lighter 

 colored, paling to 'tilleul buff' on the center of the breast; sometimes the breast is 

 bright clear 'avellaneous' buff in newly hatched young, the colors fading as the 

 youngster grows. The back is heavily spotted with 'fuscous black' and the head 

 and throat with pure black." (Bent) Si^e: "Length 2.4-2.7, wing 15.75-17.00, bill 

 1.00-1.35, depth of bill at angle .85-. 95." (Bailey) Nest: Of seaweed, grass, and 

 similar material, usually placed in a slight depression on rocky ledges or on more 

 level ground on small offshore islands. Eggs: 2. or 3, much like those of other gulls, 

 buff to olive ground color, heavily splotched and marked with various shades of 

 brown (Plate 45, 5). 



DISTRIBUTION. General: Breeds on Pacific Coast from Washington south to Lower 

 California. Winters over same territory, spreading north to British Columbia and 

 south to Mexican coast. In Oregon: Remains year round. Breeds along entire coast 

 wherever it can find suitable conditions. In winter, wanders inland to at least 

 Portland, The Dalles, and Corvallis. 



THE WESTERN GULL (Plate 46), the largest and darkest-backed of any of 

 the black-primaried gulls, is the only one that breeds on the Oregon 

 coast. It remains the year around and travels from the coast up the 

 rivers to at least as far as Portland, Oregon City, occasionally Corvallis 

 (Woodcock 1902.), and The Dalles, but it is not as abundant inland as 

 some of the other species. In fact we consider it one of the less common 

 gulls on the Columbia and Willamette Rivers near Portland, where it is 

 usually outnumbered in the Portland Harbor by the Glaucous-winged, 



