212 American Birds 



ever a gull is shot and falls to the water the other gulls 

 crowd about either through curiosity or sympathy, and 

 for several moments they will hover over a fallen comrade. 

 Hunters took advantage of this trait, and often large num- 

 bers of gulls were slaughtered wantonly or for their 

 plumage, which was used for millinery purposes. 



One summer we visited the native haunts of the gulls 

 and climbed about their homes on some of the rock islands 

 off the Pacific coast. We found them even more pictur- 

 esque here, as they flashed their white wings against the 

 rough brown rock, than they are about the bays and rivers. 

 We climbed the rocky slopes to the crevices where these 

 birds had carried a few handfuls of grass for nests. We 

 saw them building on almost every suitable table ledge. 

 But the largest number of nests were scattered about the 

 green slopes on the top of the rock. Here each gull 

 scratched out a little hollow and lined it with dry grasses. 

 Two or three eggs of greenish hue, blotched with brown, 

 in each nest, were so closely matched with the green and 

 dry grasses that we had to watch at every step to keep 

 from treading on them. 



Later we found the top of the rock fairly alive with 

 mottled-gray sea-gull chicks. A pair of these chaps are 

 about as interesting as anything IVe seen in the bird 

 line. They show little fear, but there is generally a look 

 of surprise in their eyes when you stoop to pick them up. 

 These young gulls retain their mottled dress until after the 

 first year. The snow-white breast and pearl-gray coat are 

 only worn by the more mature birds. The brownish-look- 

 ing fellows perched along the docks of the city are not a 

 different species; they are immature gulls. 



