FRANKLIN GULL 

 59. Larus franklini. 15 in. 



Adult in summer. Hood dark; mantle lighter than 

 the last species; primaries gray with black ends broadly 

 tipped with white; underparts rosy; bill and feet red, 

 the former dark toward the tip,, and more slender than 

 that of the Laughing Gull. In winter, -the plumage 

 changes the same as that of the last but the color of the 

 primaries and the shape of the bill will always indentify 

 this species. These gulls are strictly birds of the inte- 

 rior, nesting on low marshy islands in ponds or sloughs, 

 often in company with grebes, upon whose eggs they 

 subsist to a great extent. 



Notes. Similar to those of the last species. 



Nest. A mass of weeds, etc., on the ground in 

 marshes, often partly floating in the water. The eggs 

 are similar to those of the Laughing Gull but the mark- 

 ings are usually in the form of zigzag lines as well as 

 spots (2.25x1.60). 



Range. Interior of North America, breeding from 

 Iowa and the Dakotas north to Middle Canada; winters 

 from the Gulf States southward. 



