The Ring-billed Gull 
Taken on Lower Klamath Lake Photo by W. L. Finley and H. T. Bohlman 
GENERAL ALARM 
CALIFORNIA AND RING-BILLED GULLS AND WHITE PELICANS SHOWING 
Nesting. —Not certainly known to breed in California. Nest: On the ground, 
of broken-down reeds and grasses, or on summit of musk-rat houses, old grebe nests, 
and the like. Eggs: 2 or 3; colored as in other species. Av. size 61 x 43 (2.40 x 1.70). 
Season: June; one brood. 
General Range. —Temperate North America. Breeds in the interior from 
southern Oregon, Utah (Salt Lake), Colorado, North Dakota, northern Michigan and 
Quebec north to southern Ungava, central Keewatin, southern Mackenzie (Great 
Slave Lake). South in migrations over the whole United States to Cuba and Mexico. 
Distribution in California. —Common winter visitant and resident along the 
coast from Tomales Bay southward. Common on all interior bodies of water during 
migrations. Stragglers present throughout the year on many lakes and ponds. 
Authorities.—Bruch (Larus occidentalis ), Jour. Fur. Orn., 1853, p. 101, pi. ii., 
fig. 20 (Calif.); Henshaw, Auk, vol. ii., 1885, p. 232 (Santa Barbara to San Diego); 
Willett, Pac. Coast Avifauna, no. 7, 1912, p. 14 (s. Calif., winter; dates of arrival and 
departure). 
AS FOR the Ring-bill, the ocean’s edge is his domain—in winter. 
Winter, to be sure, is a polite fiction in southern California, a verbal 
counter which we retain merely for the sake of squaring our reckoning with 
that of the unfortunate “East.” Or it is a scarecrow word which we love to 
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