The Ring-billed Gull 



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Taken on Lower Klamath Lake Photo by W. L. Finley and H. T. Bohlman 



GENERAL ALARM 



CALIFORNIA AND RING-BILLED GULLS AND WHITE PELICANS SHOWING 



Nesting. — Not certainly known to breed in California. Nest: On the ground, 

 of broken-down reeds and grasses, or on summit of musk-rat houses, old grebe nests, 

 and the like. Eggs: 2 or 3; colored as in other species. Av. size 61 x 43 (2.40 x 1.70). 

 Season: June; one brood. 



General Range. — Temperate North America. Breeds in the interior from 

 southern Oregon, Utah (Salt Lake), Colorado, North Dakota, northern Michigan and 

 Quebec north to southern Ungava, central Keewatin, southern Mackenzie (Great 

 Slave Lake). South in migrations over the whole United States to Cuba and Mexico. 



Distribution in California. — Common winter visitant and resident along the 

 coast from Tomales Bay southward. Common on all interior bodies of water during 

 migrations. Stragglers present throughout the year on many lakes and ponds. 



Authorities. — Bruch (Lartts occidentalis) , Jour. Fur. Orn., 1853, p. 101, pi. ii., 

 fig. 20 (Calif.); Henshaw, Auk, vol. ii., 1885, p. 232 (Santa Barbara to San Diego); 

 Willett, Pac. Coast Avifauna, no. 7, 1912, p. 14 (s. Calif., winter; dates of arrival and 

 departure). 



AS FOR the Ring-bill, the ocean's edge is his domain — in winter. 

 Winter, to be sure, is a polite fiction in southern California, a verbal 

 counter which we retain merely for the sake of squaring our reckoning with 

 that of the unfortunate "East." Or it is a scarecrow word which we love to 



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