46 BIRDS OF ONTARIO. 



LARUS ARGENTATUS SMITHSONIANUS COUES. 

 18. American Herring Gull. (51) 



Feet, flesh color ; bill, yellow with red spot ; mantle, pale dull blue (darker 

 than in leucopterus, but nothing like the deep slate of marinus, much the same 

 as in all the rest of the species) ; primaries marked as in marinus (but the great 

 majority of specimens will be found to have the not quite mature or final 

 condition); length, 22-27; wings, 15-18; tarsus, 2-2; bill, about 2| long, 

 about -f deep at base, and about the same at the protuberance. In winter, 

 head and hind neck streaked with dusky. Young: At first almost entirely 

 fuscous or sooty -brown, the feathers of the back white tipped or not ; size, at the 

 minimum above given. As it grows old it gradually lightens ; the head, neck 

 and under parts are usually quite whitish, before the markings of the quills are 

 apparent, and before the blue begins to show, as it does in patches mixed with 

 brown ; the black on the tail narrows to a bar, at the time the primaries are 

 assuming their characters, but this bar disappears before the primaries gain 

 their perfect pattern. At one time the bill is flesh color or yellowish, black - 

 tipped. 



HAB. North America generally, breeding on the Atlantic coast from Maine 

 northward ; in winter, south to Cuba and Lower California. 



The original nest was on the ground, not far from water, simply a hollow 

 lined with grass. In some places, where the birds have been persecuted by the 

 robbery of their eggs, they have taken to building in trees, fifty or sixty feet 

 from the ground. There the nests are firmly put together and warmly lined. 



The eggs are three, bluish-white, irregularly spotted with brown of different 

 shades. 



This is the most abundant bird of its class on the inland lakes, 

 and it may be seen at nearly all seasons of the year, either soaring 

 in wide circles overhead, or passing along in front of the wharves, 

 always on the alert to examine any offal which may be thrown over- 

 board from the vessels. It breeds abundantly along the sea coast 

 and also in suitable paces inland, as shown by the following, which 

 occurs in the transactions of the Ottawa Field Naturalists' Club for 

 1881 : "On this excursion, which was held about the 21st of May, 

 we succeeded in discovering on one of the many small lakes near the 

 Cave, a nest of the common Gull (Larus argentatus), but we were 

 unfortunately too late, as not only were the eggs hatched, but the 

 young had already left the nest ; from this fact, it is probable that, 

 with this species, the period of incubation is very early in the season. 

 The nest, which was very shallow, was built almost altogether of dried 

 moss, and was placed on the top of a small rock, which stood about a 

 foot and a half out of the water towards one end of the lake." 



It breeds commonly in Lake Manitoba, and in suitable places 

 intermediate as far as Alaska. 



