Mar., 1916 
SEA GULLS AT TIIE EXPOSITION 
47 
innocence — only to avoid being stepped upon! (See figs. 10, 11.) As confi- 
dence increased between the feathered and the human visitors to the Exposi- 
tion, many people grew interested in watching and feeding the gulls, and 
many efforts were made to get them to eat from a person’s hand; but when it 
came to close contact, a certain wariness was always exhibited, and ivhile 
stories of such confidence were circulated the writer neither saw nor succeeded 
in bringing about such an instance. In fact, even when a person would remain 
perfectly still in a sitting position for a good while at a time, it was hard to 
induce one of the birds to pick up a piece of bread nearer than a couple of feet 
away from one’s own feet (figs. 12, 13, 14). 
Strange to say, the first comers in the fall seemed to be almost all imma- 
ture birds, and a large proportion of them appeared to be birds of the year, 
as they were in the immature mottled plumage with none of the pearl gray or 
plumbeous tints showing in the mantles. Later on, older birds seemed more 
numerous, and toward midwinter the proportion of adults increased greatly. 
About the middle of November, at the time the writer first noticed the arrival 
Fig. 11. Getting out of the way 
of the gulls on the Exposition grounds, few but Ring-billed Gulls (Larus dela- 
warensis ) were to be seen. Later on, an occasional Western Gull (Larus occi- 
dental's), or California Gull ( Larus calif ornicus) , appeared among the smaller 
variety, though it was impossible to say which was which of the two latter 
species on account of the difficulty in distinguishing immature birds on short 
notice when one cannot examine the subjects intimately. Still later, in Decem- 
ber, appeared the Glaucous-winged Gull (Larus glaucescens) , easily discernible 
by its larger size and different markings, and an occasional Glaucous Gull 
(Larus hyperboreus) mingled with the throng, most of these still being in im- 
mature plumage but with the color of the adult mantle showing to a greater 
or less extent. No adult Glaucous Gull was distinguished, but careful study of 
two or three individuals in immature plumage on different occasions led to 
the conclusion that the subject under consideration belonged to this species. 
Upon one of these occasions Walter K. Fisher, of Stanford University, accom- 
panied the writer and concurred in such an opinion. 
The Herring Gull did not seem to participate in the general enjoyment 
