4 BULLETIN 292, IT. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
protect gulls all the year. Louisiana protects them during the breed- 
ing season, February 1 to August 1, while five States — Montana, 
Idaho, Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico — offer them no protection 
at any time of year. 
The surest way to protect any given bird is to remove the tempta- 
tion to destroy it, and so the most certain way to stop the killing 
of gulls for the millinery trade is to prohibit the sale of gulls' wings 
and plumage, so that the plume hunter can find no market for his 
spoils. To California belongs the credit of incorporating in the game 
law of 1895 the first law in this country prohibiting the sale of gulls' 
plumage for millinery purposes. Many States followed this lead 
until, in 1910, New York, enacting the most drastic law of all, pro- 
hibited not only the sale but the having in possession of the plumage 
of any bird belonging to the same family as any of the birds of the 
State of New York. 
DISTRIBUTION. 
North American gulls and their allies include 29 species, one of 
which is divided into two subspecies, making a total of 30 forms. 
Three of these are birds of the Eastern Hemisphere which have 
occurred only accidentally in North America, while five others breed 
in the far North and are not known to occur in the United States 
even during migration or in winter. This leaves 22 forms of 21 
species that are found in the United States. Of these, 7 both breed 
and winter in this country, 14 breed in the Arctic and occur here in 
migration or in winter, and 1 breeds south of the United States and 
then comes north in migration. 
Old World Species Accidental in North America. 
Siberian gull (Larus affinis). Once in 
Greenland. 
Mew gull (Larus canus). Once in Labrador. 
Little gull {Larus minutus). Once in Ber- 
muda and once on Long Island. 
Forms Breeding in the Arctic and Not Wintering in the United States. 
Vega gull (Larus vegas). Not wintering 
south of the Aleutians. 
Ross's gull (Rhodostethia rosea). Not 
wintering south of the Pribilofs. 
Red-legged kittiwake (Rissa brevirostris) . 
Not wintering south of the Aleutians. 
Nelson's gull (Larus nelsoni). See note. 
Slaty-backed gull (Larus schistisagus) . 
Not wintering south of the Aleutians. 
Note. — Nelson's gull breeds in the Arctic, and, though it migrates south in winter 
as far as Lower California, it has not yet been taken in the United States. 
Forms Breeding and Wintering in the United States. 
Glaucous-winged gull (Larus glaucescens) . 
Western gull (Larus occidentalis) . 
Herring gull (Larus argentatus) . 
California gull (Larus calif ornicus) . 
Ring-billed gull (Larus delawarensis) . 
Laughing gull (Larus atricilla). 
Franklin's gull (Larus franhlini) . 
