Another interesting bird city, perhaps it would be better 

 to say bird settlement, is located on a number of low, rocky 

 islands called the Siskowit Islands, on the south shore of Isle 

 Royale in Lake Superior. This is a settlement of the stately 

 white and pearl-gray herring gulls. It is a comforting 

 thought to all lovers of the wild that these islands have been 

 set aside as a bird reserve and that these great beautiful 

 birds will be safe in the possession of their wild island homes 

 as long as the waves of the clear blue inland sea continue to 

 beat on the red rocks of the Royal Island. Perhaps this set- 

 tlement of the gulls is at least as old as, if not older, than the 

 heronry at Minnetonka. It is quite likely that the gulls began 

 to nest on the red rocks as soon as the receding waters of 

 the lake uncovered the island at the close of the Glacial Pe- 

 riod. I do not know how early in the spring the gulls arrive 

 at Isle Royale; it is quite likely that some of them stay there 

 all winter. The fishermen leave Isle Royale in November 

 for Duluth and return with the first boat in April and the 

 gulls are there when they leave and also when they return. 



Myself and party visited the Siskewit Island the middle of 

 June. At that time there were many nests placed on the bare 

 rocks and on the beaches all over the islands. Most of the 

 nests still contained the large, brown spotted eggs. A few 

 of the young were hatched and had begun to wander around; 

 they could even swim and were very adept at hiding amongst 

 the rocks. The old birds were much alarmed at our pres- 

 ence and screamed as only gulls can scream. After a little 

 while they became quiet and came to pick up pieces of bread 

 which we thew out on the water. We tried to catch some by 

 twing strings to pieces of bread but they dropped all gifts that 

 had a string attached to them. By connecting a long tube 

 to our camera and by sometimes attracting the birds with 

 fish we secured several fine photographs. 



How the Gulls Act as a Sanitary Police on the Great Lakes. 



Gulls although they are good swimmers never dive for their 

 food but take only what floats on the surface or has been 

 thrown on land. They must have a wonderfully keen eye- 

 sight and perhaps an acute sense of hearing. We camped in 



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