Jan., 1909. Birds of Illinois and Wisconsin — Cory. 295 



19. Larus franklinii Sw. & Rich. 



Franklin's Gull. 



Distr.: Interior of North America, chiefly west of the Mississippi 

 River; breeding from Manitoba, western Minnesota, and Dakota 

 northward; south in winter to Central and South America to Peru. 

 Rare on the Atlantic coast. This species occurs on Lake Michigan 

 and in the interior during the migrations. 



Adult in summer: Bill, red; head and upper throat, plumbeous 

 black; a white spot on each eyelid; under parts, white, usually tinged 

 with rose color; back and wings, pearl gray; tail, white; first primary, 

 pale grayish white, almost white; the outer web, black, except near 

 the tip ; a patch of black on the inner web about an inch and a half 

 from the tip; the second, third, fourth, and fifth primaries with white 

 tips and a subterminal band of black. 



Adult in winter: General plumage and markings similar, but has 

 the head and neck white marked with more or less dusky gray on the 

 top and sides of the head; bill, blackish. 



Immature: Bill, dark brown or blackish; under parts, white; crown 

 and sides of head, dusky; the gray of back and wings mixed with 

 pale brown; primaries, grayish dusky, darkest on outer webs; all 

 primaries tipped with white, but at times so narrowly on the first 

 and second as to be hardly noticeable. 



Length-, 13.40 to 14.75; wing, 10.80 to 11.30; bill, 1.15 to 1.25. 



Franklin's Gull must be considered a rare bird in Illinois. Mr. 

 Chas. K. Worthen, of Warsaw, Illinois, writes, " There is a beautiful 

 adult male of this species mounted in the State Museum at Spring- 

 field, which I took in May, 1875. It was flying over a pond in the 

 Mississippi bottom three miles below here." (Ridgway, Bull. Nutt. 

 Orn. Club, 1880, p. 32.) "A rare visitant to Lake Michigan." (Nel- 

 son, Birds N. E. 111., 1876, p. 146.) "Not common but of regular 

 occurrence in the eastern part of the state as a fall migrant. * * * 

 On Lake Michigan it is less common than anywhere in the interior. 

 * * * It seems remarkable that so few spring specimens are obtained 

 in eastern Wisconsin." (Kumlien and HoUister, Birds of Wisconsin, 

 1903, p. 10.) 



This species should be looked for along the Mississippi River, as 

 it is a not uncommon summer resident and breeds in Minnesota. 



