1294 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



in North America. They are easily distinguished from 

 the gulls by the points already mentioned but many of the 

 species are distinguished from one another only by the 

 closest observation. The commonest color pattern is 

 similar to that of the gulls being largely white with pearl 

 gray mantles, but in the breeding season all the typical 

 species have the whole top of the head black. Most of 



Photograph by Herbert K. Job 



ON THE SEA CLIFFS 

 Kittiwakes, nesting on Great Bird Rock, Magdalena Islands. 



gull but considerably larger than the Bonaparte's. 



In the Mississippi valley and west to the Rockies 

 there is a very similar black headed species called the 

 Franklyn's gull. It is the least maritime of all the gulls, 

 reaching the sea coast only during its winter quarters, 

 which stretch from Louisiana to Peru and Chili. During 

 the summer it frequents the 

 prairie country feeding princi- 

 pally upon locusts and other in- 

 sects, often following the plow- 

 man for the grubs that are turn- 

 ed up by the plough. It is this 

 species that the Mormons believe 

 saved their first settlers from 

 starvation by consuming the 

 black crickets which threatened 

 to destroy all their crops. In- 

 deed they have recently erected 

 an elaborate fountain and monu- 

 ment in Salt Lake City dedicat- 

 ed "to the gulls which saved the 

 early settlers from starvation." 



Along the Pacific coast there 

 are three common species, the 

 glaucous-winged, the western, 

 and the California gulls, which 

 are not found in the east. They 

 are white-headed species, not 

 strikingly different from the her- 

 ring gull. 



Ten of the fifty species of 

 terns known to science are found 



Photograph by Herbert K. Job 



AN UNUSUAL PERCH FOR A GULL 

 Herring gull solicitous for its nest, Matinicus Island, Maine. 



them, likewise, have deeply forked tails. They vary in 

 size from the least tern which is not much larger than a 

 swallow, to the royal and Caspian terns which are about 



y?-F~$=>t 



Photograph by Herbert K. Job 



LIKE A MANTLE OF SNOW 

 Royal and Cabot's terns nesting, Breton Island Reservation, Louisiana. 



