GULLS AND TERNS: Family Laridae [ 197 ] 



Heermann's Gull: 



Larus heermanni Cassin 



DESCRIPTION. "Adults: Bill bright red with black tip; feet and ring around eye red; 

 head and upper neck white; back sooty gray, secondaries tipped with white; pri- 

 maries and tail black, tail tipped with white; under parts dark gray. Young: bill 

 brownish; body sooty gray, feathers of upper parts bordered with whitish or pale 

 buff; or, entire plumage sooty gray except blackish tail and quills." (Bailey) 

 Downy young: "The downy young is covered with short, thick down, which on the 

 head, throat, breast and flanks is 'pinkish buff' or 'pale pinkish buff,' becoming 

 paler toward the belly, which is pure white. The back is grayish white, mottled 

 with dusky, and there are a few dusky spots on the top of the head." (Bent) Si^e: 

 "Length 17.50-11.00, wing 13.50, bill 1.50." (Bailey) Nest: In some colonies, a 

 depression in the ground, with little or no lining; in others, well-built structures of 

 weeds, sticks, and grass. Eggs: Pearl gray to blue gray, spotted and blotched with 

 lavender and brown. 



DISTRIBUTION. General: Breeds along Mexican Pacific Coast and wanders north as 

 far as British Columbia after breeding season. In Oregon: On coast from about July 

 to late December in small numbers. Very rare in recent years. 



HEERMANN'S GULL, a beautiful slate-colored bird with a white head, has 

 become rather rare on the Oregon coast in the past 10 years. Prior to 

 that time there is evidence that it was much more common. Bretherton 

 indicated to Woodcock (1902.) that it was a very abundant summer bird 

 on Yaquina Bay, outnumbering other species in the late summer and 

 early fall. He suspected that it nested there but did not find any positive 

 evidence of its breeding. We know it to be a breeding bird of the Mexican 

 and Lower California coasts that wanders north after the breeding season, 

 arid there is no evidence that it has ever bred in Oregon. It usually appears 

 on the coast in July (June 2.2., Curry County, earliest date) and remains 

 through the summer and fall. The latest fall record is December 2.8, 

 when Alex Walker took a specimen at Netarts Bay. 



In recent years we have the following specimens, all adult birds: One 

 in the Jewett collection (No. 3707) taken by Gabrielson on Netarts Bay, 

 August 2.4, 19x1, and two in the Gabrielson collection (Nos. 606 and 658) 

 taken August 2.1 and November 2.0, 192.1. Alex Walker reported two 

 specimens taken December 2.8, 1913, and one taken November 8, 19^1, all 

 in Tillamook County, and one taken December 2.8, 1930, while collecting 

 for the Cleveland Museum that is now in the collection of that museum. 

 Neither of us has taken any specimens in Oregon since that date. Our 

 last record of this species on the Oregon coast was a sight record, June 2.2., 

 1919. Our observations bear out reports from its nesting grounds and 

 from California observers that this beautiful gull is rapidly decreasing in 

 numbers on the coast. It is so distinctly marked that it is readily picked 

 out from other species present, and we do not believe we could have 

 overlooked the presence of many individuals during our visits to the coast. 



The only stomach examined was one taken December 2.8, 1930, by Alex 



