Jan., 1907 



AMONG THE GULLS ON KLAMATH LAKE 



15 



Altho there were at least five hundred pairs of gulls nesting so close together, 

 yet housekeeping was in no sense a communal matter. The nests were within two 

 or three feet of each other, but each pair of gulls had its own home spot and the 

 invasion of that place by any other gull was the challenge for a fight. Several 

 times we were the excited spectators of fights that were going on just outside our 

 tent. I watched one old hen, who was very angry because she couldn't find her 

 chicks. As one of her neighbors lit near, she grabbed the tail of the intruder and 

 gave it a sharp jerk. At that both birds grasped each other by the bill and a 

 lively set-to followed. They pulled and tugged till suddenly the old hen let go and 



grabbed her opponent by the 

 neck and began shaking and 

 hanging on with all the ten- 

 acity of a bull pup, till the 

 intruder got enough and de- 

 parted, leaving the victor with 

 a mouthful of feathers. 



Almost all the eggs had 

 hatched and some of the 

 young gulls were about grown. 

 By watching the actions of the 

 parents, I soon discovered that 

 their greatest anxiet}^ seemed 

 to be to keep their children 

 crouching low in the nest so 

 they would not run away and 

 get lost in the crowd. I saw 

 one young gull start to run 

 off thru the reeds, but he 

 hadn't gone a yard before the 

 mother dived at him with a 

 blow that sent him rolling. 

 He got up dazed and started 

 off in a new direction, but she 

 rapped him again on the head 

 till he was glad to crouch down 

 in the dr}^ reeds. 



The parents seemed to 

 recognize their own chicks 

 largel_y by location. Several 

 times I saw old birds pounce upon youngsters that were running about, and 

 beat them unmercifully. It seemed to be as much the duty of a gull mother to 

 beat her neighbor's children, if they didn't stay home, as to whip her own if they 

 moved out of the nest, but often this would lead to a rough and tumble fight 

 among the old birds. Sometimes a young gull would start to swim off in the 

 water, but it never went far before it was pounced upon and driven back shoreward. 

 Altho we had an excellent chance to study gull life from our blind, yet we 

 found little pleasure in it at the time. The sun was pelting hot and there was not 

 the faintest movement in the sultry atmosphere. We had to breathe the foulest 

 kind of air on account of the dead birds and decaying fish scattered about, and we 

 were standing in a muck that was continually miring deeper. Swarms of flies and 



ADUI/r AND YOUNG CAI.IKORNIA GflLLS 

 PHOTOGRAPH:feD FROM BLIND 



