LARDS FEANKLINI, FEANKLIn'S ROSY GULL. 653 



and in winter, fnlly three months before the usual time of depositing 

 their eggs in that country. * * * On some such occasions, when I 

 was at St. Augustine, in the month of December, I have observed four 

 or five males of the present species paying their addresses to one female, 

 who received their courtesies with evident welcome. Yet the females 

 in the country did not deposit until the 20th day of April." These facts 

 are curious. That males should in and out of season attemi)t to prevail 

 with the opposite sex is not at all singular ; but that the females should 

 accept attentions so offered, at a time, too, when there was no chance of 

 profiting by their misdeeds, in the substantial matter of eggs, is unusual, 

 to say the least. As is well known, birds are among the most truly pe- 

 riodic of animals as to their reproductive functions, having neither 

 appetite nor potency during the greater part of the year. 



From personal observation, I only know of this bird breeding north 

 of the Carolinas ; but it is said to breed from Texas to Massachusetts. 

 Its Pacific breeding grounds, if there are any, have not been brought to 

 light. Its nesting is a simple process ; it builds upon the ground, near 

 the sea, generally gathering for this purpose into large communities. 

 The nests, of which there may be many close together, are formed with 

 little art, being mere hollowed heaps of sea-weed, eel-grass, or other 

 vegetable substances, two or three inches high, and thrice as wide. The 

 eggs are mostly three In number, never more, and occasionally only 

 two. Their ground color is some sliade of olive, ranging from dull gray- 

 ish to deeper greenish; this is thickly marked all over with spots and 

 splashes of brown, blackish, dull reddish, and pale purplish ; but some- 

 times the markings are mostly collected in an irregular band about the 

 larger end of the egg. 



One noticeable habit of this bird is its incessant persecution of the 

 Pelicans, to obtain food that may drop from the capacious pouch of 

 these forced purveyors. I have seen the same thing in the case of the 

 White headed Gull of California {Blasijms hcennanni), which makes a 

 business of harassing the Brown Pelicans. Both these Gulls are as 

 truly "parasitic" as the Jaegers themselves. 



LAEUS (CHECECOGEPHALUS) FEANKLINI, Eich. 

 Franklin's Rosy Gull. 



"Lariis atricilla, Fr.vnklix." 



Larus franlcUni, Rich , F. B. A. ii, 1831, 424, pi. 71.— AuD., Oru. Biog. y, 18?.9, 324 (not 



figured;; Syn. 1839, 325; B. Am. vii, 1(^44. 145.— SCHi.., Mus. P.-B. iv, 1863, 



Lari, p. ,36.— Sukd., OIV. Vet. Akad. 1860, 590 fSt. Bartholomew).— Newt., P. 



Z. S. 1871, 57, pi. 4, f. 4 (Manitoba ; breeding, -with description of egg). — 8ci, 



& Salv., p. Z. S. 1871, 577.— CoXJES, Key, 1872, 316.— ElDGW., Ann. Lvc. N. Y. 



X, 1874, 39 (Illinois). 

 Xetna franhlinl, Br., List, 1838, 62. 

 Chroecocephalus fravklini, Br.uCH, J. f. O. 1855, 289. — L.vwE., B. N. A. 1S58, 851.— Hi. yd 



Rep. 1 862, 176.— COUES, Pr. Ph. Ac. 1862, 310.— Snow, B. Kans. 1873, 12 (Kansas)! 

 Garia {Melaqavin) franJcHni, Bp., Conipt. Eend. 1856, 771. 

 Gavia fmnldini, Blas., J. f. O. 1865, 371. 

 LariiS jiijiixcan, Wagl., Isis, 1831, 515 {fidn Salvin). 



Larus eucullatus, Light., Nomencl. 98 {dtscr. ntdla) ; see Blas., J. f. 0. 1865, 371. 

 ChroicocepTialus eucullatus, Bruch, J. f. 0. 1855, 290. — Lawr., B. K. A. 1858, 851.— Coci:,'^ 



Pr. Phila. Acad. 1862, 309.— CouES, Ibis, 1864, 388 (Chiapam).— Salv., Ibis, 



1866, 198. 

 Lams cinereo-caudatus, Phil. & Landb., Wieg. Arch. 1861, 293. 

 (?) Ch-oscocephalus MtiUtzii, Bruch, J. f. O. 1853, 104. 

 (,?) Chroecocephalus subulirostris, Bp. ; Bruch, J. f. 0. 1853, pi. 3, f. 44. (Scblegel.) (C/. 



Blas., J. f. O. 1865, 371.) 



