The Birds and Poets 195 



herring, Bonaparte and ring-billed. The latter is 

 similar in appearance to the herring gull, but 

 slightly smaller, and its light greenish bill is 

 crossed by a dark band near the tip. 



The gulls are very welcome visitors to city- 

 bound folk in winter. They are wholly unmindful 

 of cold or winter storms, and remain with us until 

 spring when they go north to breed. Cale Young 

 Rice shows his appreciation for them in his "Gulls 

 at Land's End" : 



"Hungry gulls, hungry gulls, hunters of the foam, 



Leave not the shore for the ship that sets to sea I 

 Harsh the night is falling and the hoarse waves roam, 

 Rest you in the cloven cliff's lea!" 



Thousands of these gulls nest every spring on 

 rocky clififs and small, barren islands near the 

 northern end of Lake Michigan, and on Lake 

 Superior, notably in Green Bay, Lake Michigan, 

 and on Gull Island in Lake Superior. A recent 

 study of the herring gull and its nesting habits at 

 these points was made by Mr. R. M. Strong, who 

 visited Gull Island in Lake Superior near Mar- 

 quette, Michigan, and Strawberry Islands, Sister 

 Islands and Hat Island, in Green Bay, Lake Mich- 

 igan, in the summer of 191 1.* 



It has been reported that herring gulls have 

 nested on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan 

 nearly as far south as South Haven, Michigan, but 



* Smithsonian Rep. 1914, pp. 479-509. 



