The Western Gulls 



latitude. The nests are 

 composed of dried grass- 

 es and weeds plucked by 

 the birds, roots and all; 

 and these become quite 

 substantial structures if 

 the materials are con- 

 venient. Ledges, cran- 

 nies, grassy hillsides, and 

 the exposed summits of 

 the rocks, are alike util- 

 ized for nesting sites; 

 while occasionally a bird 

 ventures down so close 

 to the tide-line as to lose 

 her eggs in time of storm . 

 Chicks are brought off 

 by the third week in 

 May, or by the middle of 

 June, according to sea- 

 son, if unmolested. If 

 the first set is removed, 

 however, the birds will 

 prepare a second, con- 

 sisting almost invariably 

 of two eggs, and these 

 are deposited as likely 

 as not in the same nest 

 as the former set. Depo- 

 sition occurs at inter- 

 vals of two or three days. 

 I recall visiting a 

 smaller rock well up the 

 coast where young birds, 



from infants to those half grown, were in hiding everywhere. The danger 

 sign had, of course, been passed around, and not a youngster on the 

 island but froze in his tracks, no matter where he happened to be. It 

 was pathetic to find, as I did now and then, babes soaking heroically in 

 the filthy green pools left in hollows of the rock by ancient rains, rather 

 than attract attention by scrambling out. One youngster had evidently 

 been nibbling playfully at a bit of driftwood cast high up, for I found 

 him with the stick between his mandibles, as motionless as a Pompeian 









*& 



Taken on Anacapa Island 



Photo by Donald R. Dickey 



NEST AT BASE OF LEPTOSYNE CIGANTEA 



1391 



