GULLS AND TERNS: Family Laridae [ 305 ] 



of plumage pure white. "Winter plumage: black of head streaked with white. 

 Young: crown grayish, mixed with black posteriorly; back and tail feathers with 

 dusky spots." (Adapted from Bailey.) Downy young: "The downy young varies on 

 the upper parts from dark grayish buff or 'vinaceous buff' to 'cartridge buff' or pale 

 grayish white. The throat is very pale dusky and the remainder of the under parts 

 are white. There are sometimes no dark markings, but usually the upper parts are 

 more or less heavily spotted or mottled with dusky." (Bent) Si%e: "Length 19.00- 

 2.Z-50, wing 15.00-17.40, bill 2.. 48-3.10, tail 5.30-6.75, forked for .75-1.60." (Bailey) 

 Nest: Usually a small depression lined with a few bits of broken vegetation. Eggs: 

 -L to 4, much like gull eggs, buff ground color, sparingly marked and blotched with 

 various shades of brown. 



DISTRIBUTION. General: Breeds in widely scattered locations over most of North 

 America. Winters from South Carolina and San Francisco Bay southward. In 

 Oregon: Summer resident and breeder in Klamath, Lake, and Harney Counties, where 

 it is present from April to October. 



THE CASPIAN TERN is not only the largest but also the most spectacular 

 of the terns that have come into Oregon. It is swift and beautiful in 

 flight and exceedingly graceful, but it is more gull-like than the smaller 

 terns. To see this beautiful big bird in life in the State, one must go to 

 the great shallow lakes and marshes of south-central Oregon where it is 

 resident from April (April 17, Klamath County) until about October i 

 (October 9, Harney County). There are breeding colonies (Plate 50) in 

 Klamath County, usually at Spring Lake, in Lake County, at Summer and 

 Warner Lakes, and in Harney County, in the vicinity of Malheur Lake. 



The terns usually nest in companies with the California and Ring-billed 

 Gulls and keep their eggs together in one spot. Egg dates vary from May 

 12. to June 16 in the various colonies in different seasons. Single sets can 

 be found earlier, but the dates given represent numerous sets in each 

 colony. An intruder in one of these mixed colonies becomes the center 

 of a screaming mass of birds, and in their anxiety for their eggs and 

 young, the Caspians are much fiercer in their attacks than the gulls. 

 Frequently they come at the intruder from high in the air, dive upon him, 

 screaming at the top of their voices, and turn aside only at the last 

 possible moment, when a collision with the object of their wrath seems 

 unavoidable. 



The Caspian Tern is not as abundant in Oregon as it was a few years 

 ago. Undoubtedly the decrease in numbers has been due to drought and 

 drainage rather than to persecution by man. The great summer colonies 

 first reported by Finley (^oya) in 1905 in Lower Klamath Lake have 

 disappeared with the draining of that lake, and in late years the only 

 colony remaining in Klamath County has usually been at Spring Lake 

 and has contained from 2.0 to 50 pairs. The colonies on Malheur Lake 

 have also diminished in numbers. It is hoped that this royal bird will 

 be present in Oregon always and that with the development of bird sanc- 

 tuaries and more breeding areas for water birds in the State it will again 

 increase in numbers to its former abundance. 



