
April, 1886.] 

In the descent their finest movements are dis- 
played. “All at once the wings are closed and 
down, down, comes the white troop for an im- 
mense distance, when the flight is arrested, the 
great impctus carrying them far in a horizontal 
course; so they rise and fall in pleasing curves at 
their own free pleasure, contrasting in a marked 
degree with their ordinary, flapping flight. At 
intervals they utter a shrill, cicar cry, much re- 
sembling the call of the Marbled Godwit (Limosa 
feda). While thus sailing, the black bars and 
white tips of the primaries are well shown. Al- 
most any time during the day they can be seen, 
singly or in small companies, ranging over the 
flat country in search of their food; which con- 
sists of various bugs,- worms, larvee, and small 
fish, which are captured with great dexterity. 
Their ordinary note is a loud, mewing cry; ut- 
tered in a short, jerky, impatient manner, some- 
what resembling the mewing of a cat. This call 
is constantly kept up, and when they congregate 
at their rookery in the evening, the din is deaf- 
ening, and may be heard all night during the 
mating season; which begins about May 1st and 
lasts until the fifteenth of the month. Regularly 
at dark a large portion of the flock took their 
noisy way to the open lake, where they remained 
on the water until light. 
On the morning of May 9th, I threw my can- 
vas boat into a tortuous channel which led far 
into the centre of the marsh which covers a tract 
of several thousand acres, and is broken here and 
there by shallow ponds and arms of open water, 
but is principally a tangled mass of coarse sedge 
and cane; which, having fallen year after year 
until the high, deep water is filled and covered 
with slimy filth, isa hotbed of malaria. Through 
this I rowed the boat when possible, and pushed 
it ahead where the growth was most dense. 
At length I came to an open current sufficiently 
strong to carry me into the odd village of these 
birds. A few sentinels had followed me for some 
distance, and by the time the border of the rook- 
ery was reached, an immense cloud of Franklin’s 
Gulls arose and moved back and forth over their 
nesting place; screaming wildly as they darted 
about, trying to drive me away. Soon the flock 
flew out of range and moved in a body overhead. 
With the sun shining on their silvery forms as 
they marshalled their wavering bands, I thought 
that never had Iseena sight more beautiful, and 
certainly there were no fewer than ten thousand 
of them. 
No eggs were found, so I departed to return 
one week later, which I did; and to my dismay 
the wonderful flock had flown away for their 
northern breeding grounds. A few pairs re- 
AND OOLOGIST. 55 
mained, however, to perform the duties of nidifi- 
cation. 
While defending their nests they evince great 
courage and spirit, successfully routing the Cana- 
da Goose (Bernicla canadensis), White Pelican, 
(Pelicanus erythrorhynchus) and other large birds 
which chanced to molest them. A most distress- 
ing sight was the determined, but unsuccessful, at- 
tempt of a dozen frightened gulls to chase a large 
snapping turtle from a nest on which it had killed 
the mother bird and was leisurely devouring her 
eggs. When I approached a nest the owncrs, 
with a few others, hovered about crying piteous- 
ly, almost striking me with their wings. 
The nests were similar in construction, being 
old water-soaked sedge stalks, carelessly thrown 
into a bulky heap on top of bent stalks of last 
season’s growth ; thus being in no danger of sink- 
ing into the water, and light enough to float 
should it be necessary. 
In the top of this mass is formed a cavity one 
or two inches deep, by six or eight inches across ; 
neatly lined with soft blades of grass, the outside 
diameter being about eighteen inches. The nests 
were clustered at the edges of small open places 
in the sedge; the water everywhere being about 
two and one-half feet deep. 
The number of eggs in each nest varied from 
one to three; but more contained three than two. 
Undoubtedly the sets were complete, as incuba- 
tion had begun, though eggs may have been re- 
moved from nests by the numerous snakes and 
turtles that infest the swamp. 
The shape of the eggs was as usual for gulls, 
with variations from narrow elongate to pointed, 
and short pyriform. The ground color varies 
from dark chocolate, sooty, creamy-brown and 
dirty white, through all the shades of light-green 
and light-drab ; variously marked with umber of 
greater or less intensity; usually with bold 
blotches largest at the larger end where they are 
wreathed. In some examples the spots are small, 
and evenly disposed over the surface; others be- 
ing scratched and streaked with irregular, zigzag 
lines of dark brown; and all have obsolete, lilac 
shell-markings, similar to those on the surface. 
From several sets I give the following measure- 
ments in inches: One set of three, measures 
1.94x1.42, 1.94x1.45, 1.94x1.46. Another 2.19x 
1.41, 2.06x1.46, 2.15x147. A set of two measures 
1.91x1.88, 1.84x1.33. Out of thirty eggs the ex- 
tremes are: 1.84x1.38, 2.14x1.50, 2.25x1.47; aver- 
age 2.04x1.38, but more were 2.05x1.45 than any 
one measurement; showing great diversity in 
pattern, of coloration and size and shape. 
Why this strange freak of extreme southern 
breeding, I am at a loss to account for, 
