LIFE HISTOKIES OF NORTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TERNS. 79 



In Newfoundland the great black-backed gull breeds on the islands 

 in fresh-water lakes. On June 23, 1912, I visited a small breeding 

 colony of this species on an island in Sandy Lake, Newfoundland, 

 where about seven pairs of gulls had already hatched their broods and 

 where they had been known to breed regularly for many years. It 

 was a small island, heavily wooded in the central higher portion with 

 birches, poplars, alders, and thick underbrush, but with broad, stony 

 beaches around its shores. The gulls' nests were scattered along the 

 higher portions of the beaches among the loose rocks. All of the nests 

 were empty and most of the young birds were so well hidden among 

 the stones, under piles of driftwood, or in the woods that we found 

 only two. I saw several downy young, only a few days old, swim 

 away from the beach and out onto the rough waters of the lake, where 

 their parents watched them anxiously and finally drove them back to 

 the island after we had left. A pair of glaucous gulls and one or two 

 pairs of herring gulls were flying about the island, but their nests 

 were probably on some of the neighboring islands. 



The southern limit of its breeding range seems to be in Nova 

 Scotia, where there are several breeding colonies in the lakes of 

 Kings County. Mr. Watson L. Bishop (1888) reported several sets 

 taken on May 22 and May 25 : 



These were collected on rocks and small islands in the Gaspereaux Lake, 

 where quite a number of these birds breed every year. It is about 18 miles 

 from salt water. 



There is also said to be a colony of 50 or 100 black-backed gulls 

 nesting on rocky islets in Methol Lake in this county. The largest 

 colony seems to be the well-known colony in Lake George, on which 

 Mr. Howard H. Cleaves has sent me the following interesting notes : 



In 1912 there were from 600 to 800 adult great black-backed gulls in the 

 breeding colony at Lake George, Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia. At that time 

 the birds were confined to two islands near the northern end of the lake, but 

 Mr. Harrison F. Lewis observed that the colony had increased in 1913 and 1914 

 eo that in the latter year the birds were occupying four or five islands. The 

 writer and Mr. G. K. Noble spent the period from July 21 to 28, 1912, encamped 

 on an island within a quarter of a mile of the gull islands, visiting the latter 

 daily, when weather conditions permitted, for the purpose of photographing and 

 otherwise studying the birds. The islands selected by the gulls were not large, 

 each comprising probably between two and three acres. They were bordered 

 with glacial bowlders of varying sizes, upon which the young and old habitually 

 stood or squatted. The highest portions of the islands were not more than 8 

 or 10 feet above the level of the lake. The topsoil, evidently not deep* supported 

 thick growths of weeds and bushes, chief among the latter being alders and 

 raspberry. There were a- few spruces, but these were small and scattering, and 

 there were also several open areas of coarse turf. The lateness of the season 

 at the time of our visit accounted for the finding of only one nest with eggs (three 

 in number), but there were enough empty nests to justify the belief that all the 

 adult birds present had bred, which would mean an aggregate of 300 or 400 nests. 



