GULLS AND TERNS: Family Laridae [ 2.87 ] 



DISTRIBUTION. General: Almost world-wide in northern hemisphere. In North 

 America, breeds south to Maine, Great Lakes, and central British Columbia and 

 winters irregularly south to West Indies and to Mexico on west coast. In Oregon: 

 Uncertain status. In light of our present knowledge, can only be considered an 

 uncommon winter visitor represented by five specimens and a number of unsatis- 

 factory sight records. 



MANY OBSERVERS have reported the Herring Gull on the Oregon coast, 

 some of them as a common species. Townsend (1839) was the first to 

 record it, but so far as we can learn left no specimens to confirm the state- 

 ment. A. W. Anthony, according to Woodcock (1901), reported it as 

 equally abundant with the Glaucous-winged Gull on the Oregon coast, 

 a statement that certainly is not applicable to present-day conditions. 

 Jewett reported it in 19x1 as found on Netarts Bay but had only one 

 specimen. Whatever its status in the past, we are not able to find it as 

 a common visitor to the Oregon coast today, although it is reported 

 commonly from Washington and as a regular winter resident of the 

 California coast. 



We have collected a great many gulls in an endeavor to determine the 

 correct status of the Herring Gull, and so far as we know the following 

 are the only specimens of this species: T. R. Peale collected one, labeled 

 Oregon, that is now in the United States National Museum (No. 12.587); 

 Jewett has an adult male that was picked up dead on the beach near Seal 

 Rocks, Lincoln County, on December 15, 1930, while we were on a trip 

 up the Oregon coast; Gabrielson collected two adult males on the Colum- 

 bia River (Coll. Nos. 2.194 and 2.195) on January 2.5, 1933, and saw a 

 number of others; and John Carter has a female (No. 61) collected on the 

 same trip. These specimens confirm the sight records of Rufus Comstock, 

 of Vancouver, who reports a few individuals regularly about the Van- 

 couver water front. At other times we have seen large pale gulls that 

 we took to be this species but have not been able to collect them, and 

 even these have not been at all common on the Oregon coast. The species 

 may be more common than our records indicate, however, as it could 

 easily be overlooked in the great hordes of gulls found during the winter 

 months at the mouth of every fresh-water stream that enters the ocean. 



Thayer's Gull: 



Lams argentatus thayeri Brooks 



DESCRIPTION. Like the Herring Gull but paler and with less black in the wing tips. 

 The bill shows a tendency to be more slender than the average of smithsonianus . 

 Si%e: Male, wing 16.18-16.93, tail 6-42.-6.89, tarsus 1.44-1.68, toe without claw 1.01- 

 1.10, culmen 1.93-1.44, depth at base of bill 0.65-0.79; female, wing 14.96-15.95, 

 tail 5.71-6.50, tarsus 1.18-1.56, toe without claw 1.85-1.13, culmen 1.69-1.10, 

 depth at base of bill 0.55-0.75 (Dwight, 1915). Nest and eggs: Same as for Herring 

 Gull. 



