14 THE AUDUBON BU DIiftaaie 
1 Baird’s sandpiper (banded at Chicago Ridge, Ill.), 1 Wilson’s phalarope 
(banded at Calumet Lake), 5 barn owls (the first to be banded near Chi- 
cago), 1 ruby-throated hummingbird, 1 Bewick’s wren (the first to be banded 
in this region), 1 cerulean warbler, 1 Kentucky warbler, 1 Brewster’s black- 
bird, 5 Harris’s sparrows, 4 Gambel’s sparrows. 
Blue Island, Ill. 
ft ft ft 
Three Rare Birds in Jacksonmeaas 
By SEYMOUR LEvy 
AFTER TRAVELING about Chicago and its suburbs I have found more rare and 
interesting birds right in Jackson Park than in places less easily reached. 
On April 12, 1939, I saw a gull about the size of a Bonaparte. It did 
not have a black head but had a small stripe of black across its crown and 
neck. The bill was blackish and the legs were a pinkish-flesh color. The 
under part of its wings were a slaty-black color. The top end parts of the 
primaries and secondaries were a shade lighter than the top of the rest of 
the wings. The tail and nape of the neck were white. After consulting 
“Birds of Massachusetts” by Forbush, this gull was identified as a European 
little gull (Larus minutus). This rare bird has never to my knowledge been 
taken in the Chicago region but was identified by Messrs. Dreuth, Nork, and 
Clark at Montrose harbor in Chicago. This gull was again seen by my 
brother and Mr. Stein, of the University of Chicago, in its summer plumage 
when the head is black. 
On May 23, 1939, while walking through the Jackson Park Bird 
Sanctuary, I saw a fairly large heron sunning itself on a dead branch. 
It had a white belly, throat, head plumes, and under wing coverts. The 
neck appeared to be a rusty-reddish color while the rest of the body was'a 
slaty-blue. The legs were a greenish-brown. At first I thought it might be 
an intermediate little blue heron but, on referring to my “Peterson’s Field 
Guide to the Birds,” I identified it as an adult Louisiana heron (Hydranassa 
tricolor ruficollis). Although it has never been taken in the Chicago region, 
it was identified in Starke Co., Indiana, in June 1876. Mr. Smart, manager 
of the sanctuary, also saw the bird. 
On Sept. 9, 1939, I saw another rare gull on a pier off Fifty-Ninth St. 
I could see the pinkish legs of the Bonaparte gulls but this one didn’t seem 
to have any legs at all. Upon closer observation I found it had blackish 
legs. When it flew I saw that it had a wide black band across the tail and 
dark colored wings, and was slightly larger than the Bonapartes. This bird 
turned out to be a laughing gull (Larus atricilla) which is usually found 
on the Atlantic coast. It was changing from immature to adult plumage, 
and did not have the dusky breast, but it did have some dark feathers on 
its head. I called up Mrs. Baldwin, a fellow ornithologist, but the gull had 
gone before she got there. She did, however, see it about two weeks later 
on a breakwater off Twelfth St. This bird, also, has never been taken here 
or, to my information, had never before been seen here. 
Chicago, Ill. 
