56 
the rear of the city, cutting short the great bend which the Mississippi 
river makes north of Saint Louis. Many old birds in beautiful plumage 
were seen all day soaring in majestic gyrations at enormous heights 
above the Mississippi. At Saint Louis the last was seen April 12; at 
Lake City, Minn., the first April 26, and the last May 10. In the fall 
of 1885 the first was seen at Milwaukee, Wis., August 8, and the last 
November 21. 
53. Iharus californicus Lawr. [663.] California Gull. 
A rare visitant from the west. Colonel N. 8. Goss shot one on the 
Arkansas river, in Reno county, Kans., October 20, 1830. 
54. Larus delawarensis Ord. [669.] Ring-billed Gull. 
“Breeds from the northern tier of States northward; occurs in win- 
ter as far north as southern Illinois, and occasionally Saint Louis, 
and ig a common winter resident along the coast of Texas and Louis- 
iana. It was shot in Chicago harbor in the latter part of December, 
1883. In 1884 the first migrant was seen at Saint Louis February 26, 
and the bulk came to Vermillion, Dak., March 31. The other dates 
are more or less irregular. 
In the spring of 1885 the only arrivals noted were as follows: Em- 
poria, Kans., April 30; Luck, Wis., April 17, and Heron Lake, Minn., 
April 9. 
In the fall of 1885 it left Heron Lake November 11. According to 
Ridgway it is a summer resident in the northern part of Illinois, but 
is not yet kuown certainly to breed there. 
58. Larus atricilla Linn. [673.] Laughing Gull. 
Belongs more particularly to the South Atlantic and Gulf States; 
breeds plentifully on the coasts of Texas and Louisiana, and a few pass 
up the Mississippi during the summer as far as southern Illinois. It is 
not known from Kansas, but was recorded by Mr. Powell at Alda, 
Netr., in July 1880. 
59. Larus franklinii Sw. & Rich. [674.] Franklin’s Gull. 
Franklin’s Gull breeds from southern Minnesota and Dakota north- 
ward; winters in the Southern States, and migrates principally west of 
the Mississippi river. The records of its movements are irregular and 
unsatisfactory. In 1884 it arrived at Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, 
April 2!. In 1885 it was reported from Emporia, Kans., April 10. It 
breeds abundantly in Dakota and western Minnesota, and thence north- 
ward. Until within a few years its presence anywhere in the United 
States in summer was considered a rare occurrence. In 1879 Roberts 
and Benner found it common in the Traverse Lake region in western 
Minnesota in June (Bull. Nutt. Ornith. Club, Vol. V, 1880, p. 20). In 
1884 Mr. Thomas Miller reported it as an abundant summer resident at 
Heron Lake, in southwestern Minnesota; and Mr. J. W. Preston has 
recently found it breeding in numbers in western Minnesota, where it 
