i68 
NATURE STUDY 
ing, having for company a flock of American mergansers. 
Our Herring Gull has for many years survived with a 
specific name of its own, Tarus argentatus smithsonianus, 
but it has been shorn from him and now there is nothing 
to distinguish him from his European relatives, except his 
good taste in locating his winter residence. 
In adult plumage the first six primaries are tipped with 
white, and then show black bands diminishing in size from 
the first to the sixth. The first and second have also an 
extra white patch near the tip. The rest of the wings and 
the back are deep pearl gray; the under parts pure white. 
The claim of our gull to his extra name was in the fact that 
the two white marks on the first primary, were never un¬ 
ited as in the European bird. But it was found that gulls, 
too, grow whiter with advancing years, and that birds that 
were discreet enough to grow old, could not be told from 
the European type, so the name of Smith had to be dropped. 
It takes a quick eye, with a good glass and a near bird, to 
see the spots at all. They breed over the whole northern 
part of North America, from Maine and the Great Takes, 
northward ; and in winter are found along the entire coast 
of the United States and on open water inland. 
Harbors near cities are especially attractive to them, on 
account of the large amount of refuse that is thrown into 
the water, affording them a life of luxury, combined with 
the least amount of work. 
In Boston they hover over the Charles River, entirely 
disregarding the clouds of smoke and steam that often en¬ 
velope them from hundreds of locomotives. East Christ¬ 
mas day over a thousand were counted resting on the wat¬ 
ers of P'resh Pond, in Cambridge. 
Even in summer an occasional bird may be seen, a : jilted 
lover no doubt, who has no home or family, for they no 
longer breed south of Maine. The immature herring gulls 
are of a dull fuscous color all over, and when seen in a flock 
