BOARD OF GAME AND FISH COMMISSIONERS 
59 
GULLS AND TERNS. ( Laridae .) 
Four kinds of Gulls and a like number of 'Ferns are found in Minnesota. 
The Gulls are the Herring, Ring-billed, Franklin’s and Bonaparte’s. 1 he Herring 
Gull, the largest, nests at Lake of the Woods, along the north shore of Lake 
Superior and probably about other large lakes in the northern part of the state. 
It stays all winter at Lake Superior when the lake remains open. 1 he King- 
billed and Bonaparte’s occur regularly only in migration. Franklin’s Gull nests 
in immense colonies throughout the western prairie portion of the state. 
The four Terns are the Caspian, Forster’s, Common and Black Tern.. Of 
these the Caspian is a rather uncommon migrant. The others breed in the state, 
Forster’s chiefly in the prairie region, the Common chiefly northward and the 
Black Tern everywhere in sloughs and ponds, far exceeding in numbers all the 
others put together. 
The Gulls and Terns are economically of great importance and should be 
carefully protected. The Gulls are not only of special value as scavengers, par¬ 
ticularly about harbors and along water-ways, but collectively they destroy as 
food an incalculable number of injurious insects. Franklin’s Gull alone is of im¬ 
mense value to the farmers of the western part of the state. It is a common 
sight in that region to see great flocks of this bird following the plows and alight¬ 
ing in the freshly turned furrows to pick up the insects and worms brought to 
view. At other times they are constantly winnowing back and forth over the 
prairies and meadows or, of evenings, circling about in the air—swallow like- 
devouring in vast quantities the grasshoppers, beetles, moths and other insects 
that are driven up or are awing in the upper air. The Terns perform a similar 
service, the Black Tern especially, the great abundance of which makes it an im¬ 
portant factor in insect destruction. The Terns to a greater extent than Gulls 
are fish eaters, catching small surface feeding fish by darting quickly upon them 
from the air. Gulls, when feeding from the water, alight on the surface and 
pick up the food, never plunging like the Terns. The fish consumed by these 
birds is an unimportant matter when compared with the great service that they 
render in other ways. In Salt Lake City, Utah, stands a unique monument of 
stone and bronze erected in grateful memory of an army of Gulls that saved the 
crops of the early settlers when they were threatened with complete destruction 
by an invading horde of great black crickets. This monument is likewise a monu¬ 
ment to the intelligent comprehension of those who erected it. 
CORMORANTS. ( P/ialacrocoracidae.) 
A single species of Cormorant, the Double-crested, is found as a common sum¬ 
mer resident throughout Minnesota. It is frequently called the Black Loon and 
the Indian name signifies “Crow Duck.” They are expert and powerful divers 
and like the Loon and larger Grebes catch their fish prey by pursuing it beneath 
the surface of the water. Most commonly in this state they build their nests in the 
tops of tall trees, usually in colonies associated with the Great Blue Heron. At 
Lake of the Woods the nests are placed on bare rocky islands. 
On account of its fish eating habits and the fact that it not infrequently 
frightens and sometimes injures the fish in pound nets this bird is in quite genetal 
disrepute. Where it is numerous it certainly must destroy a large number of fish 
