114 
The Herring Gull 
A Sea- 
Scavenger 
for this purpose, so the bird went elsewhere for its dinner. A few days 
later, I found gulls practicing this habit with great frequency a hundred 
miles farther up the coast; and, at one place, near Cape Hatteras, the 
hard-packed sands were literally strewn with fragments of freshly-broken 
clam shells. 
In its general feeding-habits this bird is, however, mainly a scavenger, 
and at sea I have often found amusement in standing on the after-deck 
and watching a dozen or more gulls at a time contending for scraps of 
food thrown overboard from the cook’s galley. Fishes’ 
squids, porpoises, and other marine animals that die 
and are cast up by the waves, are not allowed long to 
infest the beaches. The quick eye of some gull soon discovers them, and, 
like vultures, a flock quickly gathers to the feast. 
Some years ago it was the custom in New York to take the refuse of 
the city on scows out to the open sea and dump it overboard. In those 
days it was common to see thousands of Herring Gulls following these 
garbage-laden vessels. If you go outside of Sandy Hook to-day, when 
fishing vessels are lying at anchor, you will find hundreds of these gulls 
hovering about to get the pieces of bait that are thrown away, or the waste 
fragments of fish cast overboard by the anglers ; and the first welcome 
to this country received by passengers on incoming steamships is likely 
to be from flocks of these adventurous birds. 
There is not a harbor, river-mouth, or sound along the South Atlantic 
coast that does not have its flocks of Herring Gulls constantly in attend- 
ance during many months of the year. They are also to be seen on the 
coast of the Gulf of Mexico, about the lakes of the interior, and along 
the larger rivers. They are not shy, like most water-birds, but may be 
observed in our most populous cities if favorable opportunities exist for 
their presence. I have seen them in Detroit, Chicago, Milwaukee, St. 
Louis, and many other large cities. From early autumn until late in spring 
large numbers of Herring Gulls frequent New York Harbor. If you take 
a boat and go up the Hudson River to Spuyten Duyvil, then through 
the Harlem River and down the East River back to 
> Wide. the harbor, you will never be out of sight of these birds. 
Distribution q-p e y a i so SO ar at times over all parts of the city, 
and now and then gather to rest by thousands on the fresh waters of the 
Croton Reservoir in Central Park. 
When spring comes the Herring Gulls retire northward to their sum- 
mer homes. Some pass into Canada and on as far as Alaska, but many 
remain within the boundaries of the United States. They breed in great 
numbers on some of the islands in the Great Lakes. There is also a 
colony in Lake Champlain, New York; another on an island in Moose- 
head Lake, Maine. They are most numerous at this season, however, on 
the rocky islands lying off the Maine coast. The National Association of 
Audubon Societies annually employs about fourteen wardens to guard 
the rookeries of that region; and the accompanying illustration is from 
