128 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUxM 



either of those birds, although a faded out Herring gull of the first winter 

 might be mistaken for the juvenal plumage of the Kumlien gull. Students 

 should be very wary of trying to recognize at a distance any of our rarer gulls 

 in their immature plumage. This can be done with certainty only when the 

 bird is in the hand, or in very exceptional circumstances. The Ring- 

 billed gtill is considerably smaller than the Herring gull, but at a distance 

 it is difficult to distinguish from the present species. The surest way to 

 recognize the species is to get near enough to judge its size accurately, and, 

 if the bird is immature, the broad, subterminal black band on the tail of 

 the Ring-billed gull is distinctive, and in mature birds the black ring on the 

 biU. 



Distribution. This is the commonest and most generally distributed 

 gull in the State, in fact this is true of the holarctic realm in general, the 

 American and the palearctic bird now being considered identical. It is 

 abundant along the coast of New York in winter and a few are often seen 

 in summer. It is almost as common on the Great Lakes and rivers as on 

 the seacoast, but occurs more as a transient visitant in the interior, especially 

 on small bodies of water. It still breeds in the Adirondack region, more 

 particularly in the western and southwestern portions, in the counties of 

 Franklin, Herkimer and Hamilton. Mr L. L. Merriam reports it as 

 common and breeding in 1907, on Raven lake and North pond. I failed 

 to find it breeding in Essex county during the summer of 1905, but it 

 probably was breeding in the southern part of the county, as birds made 

 daily trips to Elk lake where they had nested in preceding years, but their 

 nests have been broken up, or their young killed by thoughtless tourists 

 tmtil they have deserted the islands in that lake which they formerly 

 occupied. I regret to say that this is also the case in many parts of the 

 Adirondacks, notwithstanding the law which has been passed for the pro- 

 tection of these birds. It is said that they formerly bred on the islands 

 near the north and northeast shore of Lake Ontario, but no evidence has 

 been found that they do so at present. In 1902 a small sailing boat landed 

 on one of the barren islands and found only dead birds around the nests. 



