WATER BIRDS. 53 
waters by several good observers. §. E. White reports seeing it at Grand 
Rapids, March 28, 1890, and calls it a very rare migrant at Mackinac 
Island. Covert reports it at St. Clair Flats April 9, 1875; and the late Dr. 
J. W. Velie informed us that he had taken it personally at Chicago, IIL, 
and had seen it at St. Joseph, Berrien county, Mich., “several times in winter 
and spring within the past ten years. There is no possibility of mistaking 
the species when seen near at hand.’”’ While within our limits its habits 
are like those of the other large gulls, although it is said to be more wary 
than any other species. 
It nests in the far north and its eggs are similar to those of the Glaucous 
Gull, and average 3.05 by 2.12 inches. 
TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION. 
Mantle dark slate; primaries mostly black with white tips or white spots near the tips; 
rest of the bird pure white. This is the adult in summer plumage. In winter the adult 
is quite similar, but the head and neck are more or less streaked with dusky brown. The 
immature bird, as large as the adult, is usually not dark colored all over, sometimes dark 
brown mottled with rusty or whitish, sometimes much lighter beneath and with the throat 
nearly unspotted. The primaries and tail are blackish-brown, the primaries tipped with 
white and the tail with a whitish bar near the end. 
Length, 28 to 31 inches; wing, 17.60 to 19.50; culmen, 2.40 to 2.60. 
14, Herring Gull, Larus argentatus Pont. (51) 
Synonyms: Common Gull, Harbor Gull, Sea Gull, Lake Gull.—Larus argentatus of 
most authors until 1862.—Larus smithsonianus, Coues, 1862.—Larus argentatus var. 
smithsonianus, Coues, 1874, and most subsequent authors. 
Known commonly by its large size, white plumage with pearl gray 
mantle, and wing tips largely black. 
Distribution.—Northern Hemisphere, south in winter to 
the Azores, Cuba, and lower California; breeding from 
Maine, northern New York, the Great Lakes and Minne- 
sota northward. 
Commonest of the large gulls and the one usually 
seen about lake ports and harbors everywhere during 
the colder half of the year. Formerly it nested abund- 
antly at many places on Lake Michigan and Lake 
Huron, but has been driven from most of its (south- 
ern nesting grounds and is now restricted to a few 
favorable localities in the northern parts of these lakes 
and along the shores and islands of Lake Superior. It 
builds a bulky nest of grasses, weeds, twigs, and other 
rubbish, often lined with moss, and lays three or four 
heavily spotted eggs which average 2.85 by 2.01 inches. 
Its favorite nesting place is some small island remote from 
the mainland or more or less inaccessible for one reason 
or another. In regions where it has been much persecuted 
it has been known to place its nests on the branches or tops 
of ever-green trees, but we have never known them to be 
so placed in the Great Lake region. The young leave the 
nest within a few days after they are hatched, but very 
likely return to the nest at night. They take to the water _ 
long before they can fly, and although they swim beauti- oe at ea 
fully make no attempt to dive. (Original.) 
