Penobscot Bay, Maine.
1896
June 27
(No 3)
space of half-an-acre or less. As they came over us I could see that
each bird had its head bent downward and was regarding us intently
with, as I fancied, an expression of mute appeal in its eyes. They
never once passed to windward but invariably wheeled and went off 
down wind to return again within two or three minutes. This behavior
is apparently characteristic of the Herring Gulls when their breeding grounds
are invaded only here they came very much nearer than on any other of
the other islands. Evidently these birds have been but little disturbed
the fishermen finding it easier to get their supply of eggs from the
ledges where the birds nest on the rocks or ground.
  The colony on Heron Island includes at this date somewhere between
one hundred and one hundred and fifty pairs. Of these about 10%
are nesting on the ground where we found in all about ten nests most
of them in the open about the bases of large stumps (there were three
among the buttressed roots of one stump two empty, one with one egg)
but two under outlying clusters of young balsams and one well
within the woods among a tangle of fallen dead tree trunks.
All of the nests in trees that we saw (with one exception) were placed
on the flat, spreading tops of balsams as directly above the main stem.
These nests were built almost wholly of rather fine, dry grass only one
that we examined having any sticks even on its outside or at the
base. The size of these tree nests amazed me. I was unfortunately
unable to measure any of them but several of them were certainly
as large as small nests of the Osprey. As a rule they were nearly
or quite as deep (externally) as they were wide but the egg cup
was no deeper than in the ground nests.
  The balsam foliage beneath them was so dense & matted that despite
their size it was by no means easy to see them from the ground.
We found several rather small nests, which I think must have
been made by Gulls but none of which had eggs, in yellow birches.