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The Herring Gull 
alight within a few yards of an intruder, voicing their alarm and resent- 
ment by continuous shoutings. 
In years gone by the feathers of these birds were greatly in demand 
to be used for decorating women’s hats. Hundreds of thousands of Her- 
ring Gulls were killed and their feathers sold in the 
The Feather millinery stores of our large cities. To secure these 
feathers at the season when they are in their best con- 
dition, it was necessary to kill the birds at the time of year when they 
were on or near their nesting-grounds. 
Men went to the islands, camped on shore, or lived in their boats, and 
shot the birds mercilessly day after day. Each morning they killed all 
they could skin before the coming of darkness, and threw their bodies in 
heaps, where they festered in the sunshine. The young gulls thus left 
without parental care, and totally incapable of procuring food for them- 
selves, perished miserably. As a result, the gull population very greatly 
decreased, and it seemed for a time that this species would be entirely 
wiped out in North America. 
That Herring Gulls still beautify our waters, and serve as scaven- 
gers of the sea, is, in a large measure, due to the heroic efforts of Mr. 
William Dutcher and other Audubon workers, who, by wide campaigns 
of publicity, at length secured State laws prohibiting 
the killing of these birds. They did not stop at this, 
for they knew that the slaughter would still go on to 
some extent, and the feathers be sold surreptitiously, unless guards were 
stationed at the breeding-places to protect the rookeries during the season 
when the birds are there. 
Gulls’ eggs are esteemed as food by many fishermen, and it was neces- 
sary to protect the nests also against these destroyers. This was the 
beginning of the Audubon Society’s warden-work, which has since been 
extended to include large numbers of nesting-colonies of water-birds of 
various kinds throughout the United States. 
Service of 
Wardens 
Classification and Distribution 
The Herring Gull is classified as belonging to the Order Longipennes, the 
Family Laridce, and the Subfamily Larina. Its scientific name is Larus argen- 
tatus. The species occurs at some season over much of North America, and in 
Europe as far south as the Caspian and Mediterranean Seas. 
This and other Educational Leaflets are for sale, at 3 cents each, by the National Association of 
Audubon Societies, 1974 Broadway, New York City. Lists given on request. 
