174 
Franklin’s Gull 
Insects 
Eaten 
Now that these billowy western prairies are teeming with settlers 
thousands of farmers know well this beautiful bird. No wonder that 
it is popular. Its tameness and familiarity are delightful, especially to 
those who live remote from neighbors. Its abundance, too, in some 
places, is picturesque and spectacular. I have seen the air alive with 
them as they settled like a snowy blanket upon the dark plowing. 
Another fact which should mark it as one of our notably valuable 
species is that it is largely insectivorous. When in flocks they follow 
the plow they are eagerly eating the grubs and 
cutworms exposed to view ; or, alighting on the 
prairie sward, they are busy devouring grass- 
hoppers, locusts, and whatever other insects come in their way. I have 
often watched them chasing and catching insects a-wing, darting about 
like swallows, either low over the marshes or well up aloft. In a nesting- 
colony in Minnesota, Dr. T. S. Roberts found that the young were fed 
almost wholly on insects ; the stomach of one specimen examined con- 
tained remains of fifteen kinds, several of which were notably injurious 
to man. Most of their food, at this time, consisted of the nymphs of 
dragon-flies. Like all other Gulls, they will, when opportunity offers, eat 
the eggs of other birds, as I once saw one do in a Grebe colony. This, 
however, was partly my fault, as I had frightened the Grebes from their 
nests before they had time to cover their eggs as usual, and thus put 
extra temptation in the Gull’s way. 
Another attractive element in this bird is its restlessness and mys- 
tery. It is nearly always on the move. Faintly come cries, as of a distant 
flock of Wild Geese, or a pack of hounds. Louder and louder grow the 
voices, and presently an undulating line of Gulls appears. Leisurely yet 
steadily it sweeps by, and soon vanishes in the distance, whither bound 
who can tell? Often have I longed to follow and learn the secret. But 
wherever I might drive with the bronchos and buckboard I would see 
the lines still on the move. Where there is a marshy lake these Gulls 
may often be seen, sometimes in large numbers, 
hovering over the rushes or canes, throwing up 
their wings to settle down, presently to come 
fluttering up again, parties departing to straggle over the prairie, and 
other parties arriving, probably passing to and from their distant breed- 
ing-ground. 
Each spring in May all the Franklin’s Gulls of a wide region some- 
how agree to resort to a particular one of the various marshy lakes for 
the purpose of rearing their young. Just how they decide the important 
question is not for us to know. At any rate, what they do select is a 
great area of grass, reeds, or rushes, growing out of the water, and 
there, out of the abundance of dry stems, each pair builds a partly float- 
ing nest, side by side with others, thousands of them. These great cities 
of the Franklin’s Gull present one of the most spectacular sights of bird- 
life on our continent. 
Mysterious 
Movements 
