FROM THE LIBRARY OF FRANK S. WRIGHT AUBURN, NEW YORK The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://archive.org/details/cu31924022523868 CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY LABORATORY OF ORNITHOLOGY LIBRARY Gift Of U. S. NATIONAL. MUSEUM BULLETIN 113 PL. I o o z I a < -J SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM Bulletin 113 LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TERNS ORDER LONGIPENNES BY ARTHUR CLEVELAND BENT Of Taunton, Massachusetts WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1921 ADVERTISEMENT. The scientific publications of the United States National Museum consist of two series, the Proceedings and the Bulletins. The Proceedings, the first volume of which was issued in 1878, are intended primarily as a medium for the publication of original, and usually brief, papers based on the collections of the National Museum, presenting newly-acquired facts in zoology, geology, and anthro- pology, including descriptions of new forms of animals, and revisions of limited groups. One or two volumes are issued annually and dis- tributed to libraries and scientific organizations. A limited number of copies of each paper, in pamphlet form, is distributed to specialists and others interested in the different subjects as soon as printed. The date of publication is recorded in the tables of contents of the volumes. The Bulletins, the first of which was issued in 1875, consist of a series of separate publications comprising chiefly monographs of large zoological groups and other general systematic treatises (oc- casionally in several volumes), faunal works, reports of expeditions, and catalogues of type-specimens, special collections, etc. The ma- jority of the volumes are octavos, but a quarto size has been adopted in a few instances in which large plates were regarded as indis- pensable. Since 1902 a series of octavo volumes containing papers relating to the botanical collections of the Museum, and known as the Contribu- tions from the National Herbarium, has been published as bulletins. The present work forms No. 113 of the Bulletin series. WlLUAM DEC. RAVENEL, Administrative Assistant to the Secretary, In charge of the United States National Museum. Washington, D. C. m INTRODUCTION. This Bulletin contains a continuation of the work on the life his- tories of North American birds, begun in Bulletin 107. The same general plan has been followed and the same sources of information have been utilized. Nearly all of those who contributed material for, or helped in preparing, the former volume have rendered similar service in this case. In addition to those whose contributions have been previously acknowledged, my thanks are due to the following contributors : Photographs have been contributed, or their use authorized, by D. Appleton & Co., S. C. Arthur, A. M. Bailey, K. H. Beck, B. S. Bowdish, L. W. Brownell, G. G. Cantwell, F. M. Chapman, H. H. Cleaves, Colorado Museum of Natural History, E. H. Forbush, A. O. Gross, O. J. Heinemann, A. L. V. Manniche, W. M. Pierce, M. S. Ray, J. Eichardson, R. B. Rockwell, R. W. Shufeldt, J. F. Street, University of Minnesota, C. H. Wells, J. Wilkinson, and F. M. Wood- ruff. Notes and data have been contributed by S. C. Arthur, R. H. Beck, F. H. Carpenter, H. H. Cleaves, E. H. Forbush, F. C. Hennessey, R. Hoffmann, F. C. Lincoln, H. Massey, O. J. Murie, C. J. Pennock, J. H. Rice, Katie M. Roads, and G. H. Stuart. With the consent of Dr. L. C. Sanford and R. H. Beck, the American Museum of Natural History has placed at the author's disposal Mr. Beck's extensive notes made on the Brewster and Sanford expedition to South America. The distributional part of this Bulletin has been done mainly by the author, with considerable volunteer help from Mr. F. Seymour Hersey, whose time is now otherwise occupied. Dr. Louis B. Bishop has devoted much time to revising the paragraphs on distribution and on plumages. Our attention has been called to an error in Bulletin 107. On page 32 a quotation from Dr. T. S. Roberts was inserted as referring to the food of the eared grebe; this really refers to the food of Franklin's gull and not to that of the grebe. Readers of Bulletin 107 have suggested some changes. Conse- quently, in this and subsequent Bulletins in this series, the exact details will be given, when available, in such casual records as are given; but it must be remembered that no attempt will be made to VI BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. mention all casual records; only a few can be given, to suggest the limits of the wanderings of the species. Another addition of value, suggested and furnished by Dr. T. S. Palmer, is information regard- ing reservations and the species which are protected in them. As some readers have questioned the scale on which the eggs are illus- trated, it seems desirable to say that in Bulletin 107, in this one, and in subsequent Bulletins, all eggs are, and will be, shown exactly life- size, the plates being produced by an exact photographic process. The Atjthok. TABLE OF CONTENTS. Page. Family Stercoraridae 1 Catharacta skua * 1 Skua 1 Habits 1 Distribution 6 Catharacta chilensis 7 Chilean Skua 7 Habits 7 Distribution 7 Stercorarius pomarinus 7 Pomarine jaeger 7 Habits 7 Distribution 13 Stercorarius parasiticus 14 Parasitic jaeger 14 Habits 14 Distribution 19 Stercorarius longicaudus 21 Long-tailed jaeger 21 Habits 21 Distribution 28 Family Laridae '. 29 Pagophila alba 29 Ivory gull 29 Habits 29 Distribution 35 Kissa tridactyla tridactyla 36 Kittiwake 36 Habits 36 Distribution 43 Rissa tridactyla pollicaris 44 Pacific kittiwake 44 Habits.— 44 Distribution 48 Rissa brevirostris 49 Red-legged kittiwake 49 Habits 49 Distribution 51 Larus hyperboreus 52 Glaucous gull 52 Habits 52 Distribution 60 Larus leucopterus 62 Iceland gull 62 Habits 62 Distribution 64 vn VIII TABLE OF CONTENTS. Family Laridae-^Conthiued. Fa ^_ Larus glaucescens Glaucous-winged gull j™ Habits , 65 Distribution 73 Larus kumlieni 73 Kumlien's Gull 73 Habits 73 Distribution "" Larus nelson! ™ Nelson's Gull 76 Habits-. ., 76 Distribution-^ 76 Larus marinus = 77 Great black-backed gull 77 Habits 77 Distribution 85 Larus schistisagus 86 Slaty-backed gull 86 Habits 86 Distribution 89 Larus occidentalis 89 Western gull 89 Habits 89 Distribution 98 Larus fuscus affinis . 99 British lesser black-backed gull 99 Habits 99 Distribution 101 Larus argentatus 102 Herring gull 102 Habits 102 Distribution 119 Larus thayeri 120 Thayer's gull 120 Habits 120 Distribution 122 Larus vegae 122 Vega gull— 122 Habits 122 Distribution 124 Larus californicus 124 California gull 124 Habits 124 Distribution 131 Larus delawarensis 132 Ring-billed gull 132 Habits 132 Distribution jgg Larus brachyrhynchus 14 q Short-billed gull 140 Habits 14 q Distribution 14 g Larus canus i46 TABLE OF CONTENTS. IX Family Larldae— Continued. Fa s e ... Mew gull - 146 : _ Habits 146 Distribution __________ 147 . Larus heermanni • _- 148 Heermann's gull 148 Habits. 148 Distribution 153 Larus artricilla_ 154 . Laughing gull . 154 Habits 154 Distribution — 162 Larus franklini 163 Franklin's gull 163 Habits 163 Distribution 174 " Larus Philadelphia . 175 . Bonaparte's gull 175 Habits '. 175 Distribution ____ 179 Larus minutus 180 Little gull 1 180 Habits— _ 180 Distribution 182 Rhodostethia rosea 183 Boss's gull 183 Habits 183 Distribution 190 Xema sabini 1 191 - Sabine's gull 191 Habits !__ 191 Distribution 196 Gelochelidon nilotica 197 Gull-billed tern ___ 197 Habits ;__ 197 Distribution 202 \ r ' Sterna caspia , 202 Caspian tern__l_ 202 Habits __!_: 202 Distribution 210 Sterna maxina ,_■ 211 ;.;• Royal tern 211 ;i- Habits . 211 Distribution 218 Sterna elegans 219 Elegant tem 219 Habits 219 Distribution 220 Sterns sandvicensis acuflavida__ ■__ 221 Cabot's tern 221 Habits 221 Distribution 226 Sterna trudeaui 227 X TABLE OF CONTENTS. ] 227 Family Laridae— Continued. a Trudeau's tern Habits 227 Distribution 228 Sterna forsteri 229 Foster's tern 229 Habits . 229 Distribution 2S5 Sterna hirundo 236 Common tern 236 Habits 236 Distribution — 248 Sterna paradisaea 249 Arctic tern 249 Habits 249 Distribution . 255 Sterna dougalli , 256 Roseate tern 256 Habits 256 Distribution 264 Sterna aleutica 265 Aleutian tern : ■. 265 Habits 265 Distribution 269 Sterna antillarum 270 Least tern 270 Habits 270 Distribution 278 Sterna fuscata 279 Sooty tern 279 Habits 279 Distribution 286 Sterna anaetheta 287 Bridled tern 287 Habits 287 Distribution . 289 Chlidonias nigra surinamensis 290 Black tern ! 290 Habits 290 Distribution 298 Chlidonias leucoptera 299 White-winged black tern 299 Habits : 299 Distribution 301 Anous stolidus _ 301 Noddy 301 Habits 301 Distribution ona Family Rynchopidae 3j0 Rynchops nigra 3^ Black skimmer 310 Habits oiq Distribution „ 18 References to bibliography ----- Explanation of plates ~ QO ~ Index 33 9 LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TERNS, ORDER LONGIPENNES. By Arthur Cleveland Bent, of Taunton, Massachusetts. Family STERCORARIDAE, Skuas and Jaegers. CATHARACTA SKUA Briinnich . SKUA. HABITS. The following quotation from the graphic pen of Mr. F. St. Mars (1912) gives a better introduction to this bold and daring species than anything I could write, and his article, The Eagle Guard, from which I shall quote again, is well worth reading as a striking char- acter study : Then the scimitar wings shut with a crisp swish, and he became a statue in dull, unpolished bronze, impassively regarding the polecat, who lay with her back broken, feebly struggling to drag into cover. It is a shock to the human nerves to see the life blasted out of a beast almost 'twixt breath and breath ; what one moment is a gliding, muscular form, instinct with life and energy, confident in power, and the next moment a crumpled heap of fur, twitching spasmodically. But it was a searchlight on the reputation of the eagle guard and the stories one had heard anent the superstitions of the natives. The polecat, being hungry with the gnawing hunger of a mother and pre- suming on a swirl of mist, had tried to steal up the knoll to the two great eggs that lay in the hollow atop all unguarded. Had come then a thin, high, whirring shriek, exactly like the noise made by a sword cutting through the air, and a single thud that might have been the thud of a rifle bullet striking an animal. Then — well, then the scene described above. Big, powerfully built, brown with the black brown of his own native peat bogs, armed to the teeth, long and slash-winged, whose flight feathers were like the cutting edge of a sword, insolent with the fine, swelling insolence of power, and greatly daring, no wonder men had chosen him as the eagle guard, this mighty bird, this great skua of the naturalists, this Bonxie, mascot, and super- stitious godling of the fishermen. Wah ! he was a bird. We know so little about the skua, as an American bird, that I shall have to draw largely from European writers for its life history. It is rare on the American side of the Atlantic Ocean, and is not known to breed here regularly, although it probably does so occasion- ally or sparingly in Greenland or on the Arctic Islands. l 2 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. Nesting. — Yarrell (1871) says: The great skua arrives in the Shetlands about the end of April, and its nest, which consists of a neatly rounded cavity in the moss and heather o highest moorlands, is prepared in the latter half of May. According to Maj. Feilden, the birds appear to prepare several nests before they decide on using one. There is no difficulty in finding the nests, as the parent birds at _once attack any. intruder upon their domain with fierce and repeated swoops. w ^ en handling the nestling the editor found their assaults were unremitting; first one bird and then the other wheeling-shorti and coming down at full SP^' almost skimming the ground. At about 15 yards' distance the strong clawed feet are lowered and held stiffly out, producing for the moment a very ungainly appearance, and it seems as if the bird would strike the observer full in the center of the body, but on quickly raising the hand or stick the bird rises also, the whirr and vibration of its pinions being distinctly heard and felt. Its ordinary flight is soaring and stately. On leaving the territory of one pair, the attack is taken up by another, and so on ; for the great skuas do not nest in close proximity. Morris (1903) writes: The nest of the skua is of large size, as well as somewhat carefully con- structed ; the materials used being grasses, lichens, moss, and heath. The bird places it on the tops of the mountains or cliffs in the neighborhood of the sea, but not on the rocks themselves. They build separately *in pairs. Eggs. — The skua lays ordinarily two eggs, rarely three, and some- times only one. These vary in shape from ovate or slightly elongated ovate to short ovate, The shell is smooth, with a dull luster. The ground, color is " Saccardo's olive," " Isabella color," or " deep olive buff," The markings are usually not profuse and consist, of spots and blotches, scattered irregularly over the egg, of " sepia," " bis- ter," " sntiff brown," or " tawny olive." There are also usually a few faint spots or blotches of pale shades of drab or gray. Kev. F. C. E. Jourdain has collected for me the measurements of 68 eggs, which average 70.58 by 49.43 millimeters; the eggs showing the four ex- tremes measure 76.3 by 50.4, 71.5 by 53.2, and 62 by 44.5 millimeters. Young. — Maagillivray (1852) quotes Captain Vetch as saying : The young bird is a nimble, gallant little animal, and almost as soon as hatched leaves the nest. On the approach of danger he secretes himself in holes or behind stones with great art, and when captured at least makes a show of defense that is quite, amusing. Plumages. — I have never seen the downy young, but Coues (1903) describes it as "buffy-gray, ruddier above than below." Ridgway (1887) quotes Dresser as calling it "brownish or cinnamon-gray, rather darker in color on the upper parts than on the under surface of the body." I have not been able to examine enough specimens to come to any definite conclusions as to the sequence of molts and plumages. Coues (1903) gives the following good description of the young of the year: Size much less; bill weaker and slenderer; cere illy developed; striae not apparent and its ridges and angles all want sharpness of definition. Wings U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 113 PL. 2 a. < s o Q. < CO LIFE HISTORIES OP NORTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TERNS. 3 short and rounded, the quills having very different proportional length from those of adults; second longest, third but little shorter, first about equal to fourth. The inner or longest secondaries reach, when the wing is folded, to within an inch or so of tip of longest primary. Central rectrices a little shorter than the next. Colors generally as in adult, but duller and more blended, having few or no white spots ; reddish spots dull, numerous, and large, espe- cially along edge of forearm and on least and lesser coverts. On underparts the colors lighter, duller, and more blended than above; prevailing tint light dull rufous, most marked on abdomen, but there and elsewhere more or less obscured with ashy or plumbeous. Remiges and rectrices dull brownish-black ; their shafts yellowish-white, darker terminally. At bases of primaries there exists the ordinary large white space, but it is more restricted than in adults, and so much hidden by the bastard quills that it is hardly apparent on outside of wing, though conspicuous underneath. Young birds may become indistinguishable from adults at the first postnuptial molt, when a little over a year old, but perhaps not for a year or two later. Adults seem to have but one complete molt — the postnuptial-^in August. Adults can be distinguished by their larger size and by the elongated feathers of the neck with the whitish central streaks. Food. — Yarrell (1871) writes of the food of the skua: Their food is fish, but they devour also the smaller water birds and their eggs, the flesh of whales, as well as other carrion, and are observed to tear their prey to pieces while holding it under their crooked talons. They rarely take the trouble to fish for themselves, but, watching the smaller gulls and terns while thus employed, they no sooner observe one to have been successful than they immediately give chase, pursuing it with fury; and having obliged it from fright to disgorge the recently swallowed fish, they descend to catch it, being frequently so rapid and certain in their movements and aim as to seize their prize before it reaches the water. The stomachs of a pair which were shot were full of the flesh of the kittiwake, and the castings consisted of. the bones and feathers of that small gull. Heysham has noticed an adult female on the coast of Cumberland, which allowed herself to be seized while she was in the act of killing a herring gull. It also feeds on fish offal, and the editor found by the side of a nestling some disgorged but otherwise uninjured herrings of large size. Behavior. — In appearance as well as in habits the skua seems to share the attributes of the Raptores and the Laridae; its strong, hooked bill and its sharp, curved claws enable it to stand upon and rend asunder the victims of its rapacious habits. Its flight is also somewhat hawk like. Yet it stands horizontally, and runs about nimbly like a gull. Morris (1903) says that.it "soars at times at a great height, and flies both strongly and rapidly, in an impetuous, dashing manner." Mr. Walter H. Rich has sent me the following notes on the flight of this species : When on the wing, -which is the greater part of the time, the skua shows in the air hawk like, rather than like the gulls, with whom we rather expect 4 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MTJBET7M. to find its resemblances. Its appearance in the air is somewhat „_ buteonine hawks, except that its wing action, in its seemingly restraine P_ and forceful stroke, suggests the unhurried flight of a falcon, or, pe _ ' more accurately — since the wings are at all times fully opened, emp y their full sweep in their action, their primaries slightly separated at the ips and slightly recurved— the majestic flight of an eagle. The wing ^ ead " ample, the wing well balanced in its proportions of length and brea< dth, we combined to produce both power and speed. The figure is somewhat burly and chunky as compared with the lighter appearance of the gull and the more racy lines of the yager. The impression of muscularity is heightened by the short, square-cut tail, carried somewhat uptilted, giving the fowl an appearance unmistakable in the eyes of one having once recognized it. This peculiarity of tail, which to me seemed slightly forked instead of having the central feathers lengthened, as in others of this group, together with the broad white patch across the bases of the primaries, furnishes a good field mark for the identification of the species. Macgillivray (1852) says: Its voice resembles that of a young gull, being sharp and shrill, and it is from the resemblance of its cry to that of the word skua or skui that it obtains its popular name. Mr. Eich's notes state : Whatever the case elsewhere, on the fishing grounds this seemed a silent species. The writer heard no sound at all which, he was able with certainty to trace to it during his acquaintance with it. The most interesting phase of the skua's life history is its behavior toward other species. It is certainly a bold and dashing tyrant, more than a match for anything of its size and a terror to many birds and beasts of larger size. Mr. F. iSt. Mars (1912) describees its attack on the golden eagle* which dared to venture too near its nest, in the following graphic words : Some minutes elapsed, in spite of the warnings, before the human eye could have made out a faint dot growing out of the mist round the tail of an inlet It enlarged rapidly, however, that dot, and one saw that it was really a real, live eagle, a golden eagle of Scotland. Mind you, there was none of that sublime soaring in the infinite that the books tell of. He came, as any mere common bird might have come/beating up along the. shore with heavy, flapping flight, which, by the way, looked much slower than it really was, and he said nothing as he came. The picture, as it stood, of that somber, bronze^gold winged giant, beating slowly up against the wind in a setting of dim gray sky, jade sea, and dark- velvet land, was very fine. It seemed that nothing could have added to its bold, wild grandeur. Then something seemed to move across the heavens very quickly, and there was a hissing sound as if a mighty sword had cleaved the air. Followed then a second phenomenon just like the first, and almost in the' same instant one realized two distinct facts: Firstly, that the two skuas were no longer near their nest; and, secondly, that the eagle had, with five stu- pendous flaps of those vast Wings, shot upward into the clouds. LIFE HISTOEIBS OF NOBTH AMEEICAN GULLS AND TEENS. At the same instant it seemed as though a big brown projectile hurtled past exactly beneath him, and a fraction of a second' later, as though another one had hit him. There was a burst of feathers and a whirl. The eagle appeared suddenly to grow much larger, miraculously to sprout an extra and smaller, thinner pair of wings, and to reel in his flight, recover, feel again, turn half over, as if grappling some invisible foe, drop like a thunderbolt some 200 feet, and then break into two pieces, the larger piece slanting upward on the one hand and the smaller executing the same wonderful aerial evolution on the other. Then were the facts made plain. The smaller portion was the skua. He had darted like lightning upon the eagle's back and clung there for a second or two — only for a second or two, but it seemed minutes while the two fell — after the king had avoided his mate's first reckless, headlong, crazy rush. I have no hope to describe to you what followed, because the laboring human eye was far too slow to see and the brain to grasp the electric-quick passage of events. I only know that one was dimly aware that some stupendous battle was going on up there in the dim northern heavens ; that bodies, large bodies, bursting with life and a dozen uncurbed wild passions, were sweeping and swerving, and swooping, and swaying, and streaking, and stabbing, and slash- ing, and striving, and screaming in one wild welter of wildering speed. And all the while the land below, save for the huddled sheep, lay as deserted as if a hand had come down and swept it clean of life. Yet one knew that in reality hundreds and hundreds of sharp eyes were watching from cover that battle of the overlords of the air and calculating the chances of life upon its issue. Slowly, second by furious second, inch by hard-fought inch it looked from the earth, but mile by mile it was really, up there in the unbounded airy spaces, the battle receded, receded upward and northward, till the straining eye was at last only conscious of a faraway blur, a dancing of specks, as it were gnats, on the vision, and then, with an almost audible sigh from the hidden specta- tors, of nothing. Mr. Kich's impressions of the behavior of the skua are expressed in his notes as follows : This is the overlord of the fishing grounds, fearing no bird here. Whether the skua would successfully contest with the black-backed gull the writer is unable to state, as the two did not come' together under his observation, but he thinks that the skua need have little uneasiness as to the outcome of bat- tle. The difference in size between the black back and the skua is mostly a matter of measurements, due in part, at least, to the skua's shortness of rudder. In bulk and weight there is less difference, probably, than is shown by these figures, and in physical powers, judging from appearances, there is little to choose between them. Of the two, the skua's armament seems the better fitted for damaging an enemy, and he seems to possess greater speed and skill in maneuvering — a flight of greater power and control than has his rival, who, gull-like, is a drifter rather than a flier. Certain it is that the hag, tern, kittiwake, and herring gull move respectfully aside when the " sea hen" comes sailing above them, for all these he harries and robs constantly, performing in the realms of the sea the same robber tactics which the raptorial birds carry on among the feathered people ashore. Are the hags or the gulls squabbling over a bit of waste or striving to tear a "poke-blown" fish which has drifted away from the steamer's side ; over the struggling mass there comes the shadow of broad wings ; a heavy body drops among them regardless of what may be beneath it; the weaker move respectfully aside and leave the 6 BULLETIN. 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL, MUSEUM. newcomer. in undisturbed possession of the spoil. Over his shoulder the skua gazes at the steanier, making only now and then a tentative pull at the body of his prey, until it has floated to a safe distance, when he begins to rip and tear it with his powerful beak. To lose all interest in _ that particular morsel, hag or gull that comes near the spoil needs to look but once at that lowered head with its bristling crest, and the powerful wing upraised to strike. Winter.— The status of the skua as an American bird is based largely on its occurrence on the fishing banks off the coasts of New- foundland and New England. Probably the birds which occur there in winter are of this species, but the following notes by Mr. Rich suggest the possibility that the birds seen there in summer may be of one of the Antarctic species : In the main, the " sea hen " seems to have been considered a winter visitor to our coasts, somewhat unusual during the summer months, yet my records show its presence here from June 19 to November '5, with its period of greatest abundance from August 12 to September 10 (this in the " South part of the channel," 35 miles east; south from Sankaty Head, 68° —42' W. ; 41° —20' N.), with numbers diminishing thereafter until the last appearance therein noted on November 5, 1913. > The writer remained upon the fishing grounds 21 days later, but did not again note its presence there. These facts have suggested to Mr. Norton that the " sea hen " of the sum- mer months may have come from the Antarctic with the shearwaters, returning thither to breed among the penguin rookeries of that little-known continent on the underside of the world; while the skuas of the winter months may come from the northern breeding grounds of the species. It is regrettable that I was unafale to collect any specimens with which to make comparisons and to go deeper into this matter. There would have been very little difficulty in getting material, as the " sea hen," while more careful than the "gull-chasers," was not very shy, and shots at 30. yards or even less would have been frequent. . DISTRIBUTION. Breeding range., — Islands of. the North Atlantic Ocean, Greenland, Iceland, the Faroe and Shetland Islands. Said by Kumlien to breed at Lady FrankHn Island north of Hudson Strait. Winter range. — The North Atlantic Ocean, occasionally reaching land. From the Great Banks, off Newfoundland, and Georges Bank, pff Massachusetts, to New York (Long Island) . In Europe from the British Isles and Norway south, to Gibraltar. Occasional in the Mediterranean Sea and on inland waters. '^Spring migration. — Migration dates in North America are so few as to appear little more than straggling records. Labrador : Straits of Belle Isle, June 22. . Fall migration. — Birds reach Georges Bank in July. Massachu- setts dates : Ipswich, September 17 ; Woods Hole, August 30 and Sep- tember 19 ; Pollock Rip, September 10 ; and Nantucket Shoals, Octo- ber 17. Recorded from New York (Long Island) as early as August 101 LIFE HISTOEIES OF NORTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TERNS. ( Casual records. — Accidental inland in New York (Niagara River, spring, 1886). Egg <£ate&r^-Iceland : Twenty-four records May 20 to June 23; twelve records June 3 to 15. Greenland : One record June 21. CATHARACTA CHILENSIS (Bonaparte). CHILEAN SKUA. HABITS; The preceding species, Catharacta skua, has been reported, as a straggler, on the coasts of California and Washington, where speci- mens have been taken, as recorded below. These records have always seemed open to question as it seemed unlikely that a bird of the Atlantic Ocean would stray so far away from its normal habitat. There are at least two other species of skua, which are fairly com- mon in certain parts of the South Pacific and South Indian Oceans, which would be much more likely to wander to the coast of Cali- fornia. Thinking that these records might refer to Catharacta dhilensis or Catharacta lonnbergi, I opened correspondence regard- ing them with Mr. Harry S. Swarth, which resulted in his sending me one of the birds. After consultation with Mr. Robert Cushman Murphy, who is familiar with these species in life, and after compar- ing it with series of specimens of chilensis, lonnbergi, and antdrctica in Various museums in Cambridge, New York, and Washington, I have decided to provisionally refer these birds to the above species, Catharacta chUensis, of which they probably represent an immature plumage or a dark phase. DISTEIBtmON. Breeding range. — Unknown. Range. — Most abundant on the coasts of Chile and Peru, but found on both coasts of southern South America, from Rio Janeiro, on the Atlantic side, to Callao, Peru, on the Pacific side. Wanders north- ward, perhaps regularly, in the Pacific Ocean to Japan (Sagami Sea, August 23, 1903), California (Monterey Bay, August 7, 1907, and August 4 and September 21, 1910), Washington (off Gray's Har- bor, June 28, 1917), and British Columbia (off Vancouver Island, June 20, 1917). STEECORAEIUS POMARINUS (Temminck), POMAKINE JAEGER. HABITS. To most of us this and the other jaegers are known only as sum- mer and fall visitors on our coasts or on the fishing banks, where they are constantly harassing the smaller gulls, the terns, and the shearwaters, from whom they obtain by force a large part of their food supply. The pomarine is the largest of the three, but by no 174785—21 2 8 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. means the most aggressive. Few of us have ever seen it on it ing grounds, which lie within the Arctic Circle, where it is wi e y scattered over the boundless plains of the marshy tundra. Spring.— Br. E. W. Nelson (1887) says of its arrival in northern Alaska : The earliest arrival of this bird in spring was May 13 at the Yukon mouth where the writer found it searching for food along the ice-covered river chan- nels. They became more common, until, by the last of the month, from a dozen to 20 might be seen every day, Mr. Frank C. Hennessey, who accompanied $ie A. P. Low expedi : tion to the regions north of Hudson Bay, says, in his. notes, that ' the first of this variety was seen to arrive in the spring at Winter Har- bour on May 29th." Nesting. — Very little has been published on the nesting habits of the pomarine jaeger. Mr. Hennessey, in the notes referred to above, which he kindly sent me, states that these birds are " abundant about Winter Harbour, where they breed on the low, flat, marshy land in the neighborhood, choosing the small mounds or slight elevations that abound in these places upon which to rear their brood. The nest is a slight depression in the soil of the elevation and just deep enough to admit the eggs and breast of the bird. No material is used in its construction, but the bottom is covered with much loose soil and rub- bish apparently blown in accidentally." Mr. C. Boyce Hill (1900) published the following account of the nesting habits of this species in Siberia : On our way down the Yenisei the steamer which was towing us fortunately ran ashore on one of the numerous sand; banks which abound in this river. I say fortunately because it enabled us to discover this skua nesting. After having inquired the probable duration of our stoppage, Popan and I agreed to explore the small islands near at hand — a group named the Brekotsky. We took, one each, and on mine, a large, flat marsh, I observed a Pomatorhine skua, which was presently joined by another. The birds did not appear at all demon- strative nor to resent intrusion, like the long-tailed skuas, so I thought they could not be nesting. But after much searching and watching I observed one settle right in the center of the marsh, so at once proceeded to the spot. The bird rose when I was within a few yards of it, and to my delight I saw the nest with two eggs. I waited a few moments for the skua to come within shot and killed it; after pursuing its mate, I captured that also. The nest was a mere depression in the ground, on a spot rather drier than the surrounding marsh, and to reach it I was at times up to my knees in swamp ; so that had it not been for a foundation of ice at a depth of from 18 inches to 2 feet from the surface I do not think I should have been able to record this event. I also found nesting on this island some scaup ducks and red-necked phalaropes. Mr. Ludwig Kumlien (1879) found this species breeding on the Greenland coast under very different conditions. He writes : I have, however, nowhere found them so very common as on the southern shores of Disko Island; at Laxbught and Fortuna Bay there must have been LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TERNS. 9 many hundred pairs nesting. Their breeding place was an inaccessible cliff about half a roi^e from the seashore. The greater number of the birds nesting here were in the plumage described in Doctor Coues's monograph of the Laridae as the nearly adult plumage; but there were also a good many birds that were unicolored blackish brown all over, but with the long vertically twisted tail feathers. That these were breeding I think there can be no doubt, as I saw them carrying food up to the ledges on the cliff, for the young I suppose. Eggs. — The Pomarine jaeger lays two or three eggs to a set, usually the former. They are said to be scarcely distinguishable from certain eggs of the parasitic jaeger or of the mew gull, but are more pointed. The shape is ovate or pointed ovate. The shell is smooth and slightly glossy. The ground color varies from " brown- ish olive " or " Brussels brown " to " olive lake " or " dark olive buff." They are rather sparingly spotted with "bone brown,' 1 ' "bister," " chestnut brownf or " snuff brown," and occasionally with under- lying spots or blotches of various shades of drab or gray. The meas- urements of 49 eggs, in various collections, average 62 by 44 milli- meters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 72.6 by 44.9. 68 by 48, 57.2 by 43.6, and 58.5 by 40 millimeters. Plumages. — The young when first hatched is covered with long soft down, of plain colors and unspotted ; the upper parts are " clove brown " or " olive brown " and the under parts " drab " or " light drab." The plumage appears first on the scapulars, back, and wings, then on the breast, and the full juvenal plumage, which is not dis- tinctly separated from the first winter, is acquired before the young bird is fully grown. The first winter plumage is the well-known brownish mottled plumage, in which the body feathers and particu- larly the scapulars are heavily barred transversely with dark browns or dusky tints and tipped with rufous or pinkish buff ; the central tail feathers are only slightly elongated beyond the other reetrices. This plumage is worn with slight changes all through the first year, or until the first postnuptial molt, which begins in June and lasts until October. The rufous or buff edgings gradually fade out to white during the winter; during the molt into the second-year plumage August birds show old barred feathers with white edgings and new barred feathers with rufous edgings. The second winter plumage is still mottled or barred, but is much lighter colored; the browns are grayer and there is more white, the rufous edgings soon disappearing. There is less barring on the under parts and the belly is often wholly white centrally ; the under tail-coverts are heavily barred with white and dusky. There are sometimes signs of the golden collar in this, plumage. If there is any molt in the spring, it is only partial, and probably the young bird does not breed in this plumage the second spring. At the second postnuptial molt the following summer, when the bird is about 2 years old, the third-year plumage is assumed. This 10 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. plumage is practically the same as the adult in many indijid.ua , the upper parts are uniformly dark, except that the white and go en collar encircles the neck; the two central tail feathers become muqh elongated ; the under parts are mainly white, with more or less dusky mottling on the neck, upper breast, and sides; and the lower abdo- men and under tail-coverts become dusky, but in some individuals these are veiled or mixed, more or less, with white. There is great individual variation in the amount and extent of the dusky mottling in the white, areas, in the amount of white in the dark under tail- coverts, and in the extent of the white and golden collar at this age ; but as there is not much further progress to be made toward ma- turity, the third-year birds may be considered practically adult. The fully adult plumage, without much mottling in either the light or the dark areas and with the fully developed golden collar, increases in perfection with subsequent molts; the clear dark crissum and under tail-coverts are assumed when the bird is about 3 years old, though vigorous birds may acquire them before that time. I have never seen a specimen in which the neck, breast, and shoulders were entirely f ree from dusky mottling. Birds in the dark phase of plumage, apparently, undergo the same sequence of plumages to maturity, though I have not been able to trace the changes so satisfactorily. In the first-year plumage they are much darker than in the light phase, with the white barring much more restricted. During the second year they are almost wholly dark with some whitish and rufous edgings above and below. The third-year and adult plumages are hardly distinguishable, both being uniformly dark, but some specimens show an indication of the golden collar, more or less distinctly, which are probably the older birds. The molt of the contour feathers in both phases occurs in summer, from June to October, and the flight feathers are molted in October, beginning with the inner primaries and the central rectrices. The prenuptial molts of both young birds and adults are probably in- complete, but specimens of winter and early spring birds are too scarce to demonstrate it. Food.— -The predatory feeding habits of the jaegers are familiar to everyone who has studied the habits of our sea birds during the latter part of summer and fall. They are the notorious pirates and freebooters among sea birds, the highwaymen that persecute their neighbors on the fishing grounds and make them " stand and de- liver:" It is no uncommon sight on the New England coast to see one or two of these dusky robbers darting through a flock of hover- ing terns or small gulls, or giving chase to the lucky one that has caught a fish, following every twist and turn in its hurrying flight LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TERNS. 11 as it tries to dodge or escape, close at its heels as if attached by an invisible string. At last, in desperation, the harassed tern drops its fish and the relentless pursuer seizes it before it strikes the water. Occasionally the indignant tern voids its excrement instead, which the jaeger immediately seizes, as if it were a dainty morsel. Off Chatham, Massachusetts, we often saw this and the next spe- cies, which are called " jiddie-hawks " by the fishermen, mingling with the shearwaters and browbeating them as they do the gulls and terns. As soon as the shearwaters began to gather about our boat to pick up the pieces of cod liver that we threw overboard, the jaegers would appear and take a hand in the general scramble for food. They are quick to sense the idea that a gathering flock of, sea birds means a feast to be obtained by force. The " haglets " are greedy feeders, and soon gulp down what pieces of food they can find, but they have learned by many a painful squabble that they are no match for the active, fighting "jiddie-hawks," and they are soon forced to disgorge or to surrender the field. Mr. Kumlien (1879) says that on the Greenland coast "they live to a great extent upon the labors of the kittiwake, though they do not hesitate to attack Lotus leucopterus, and even glaueus. They are destructive to young birds and eggs. It is a common sight to see five or six after one gull, which is soon made to disgorge, and then the jaegers fight among themselves for the morsel, which often gets lost in the melee." In addition to the food stolen from other birds, the pomarine jaeger lives on what it can pick up in the way of offal, carrion, and scraps thrown from the galley. It devours young birds and eggs, and even small mammals, such as mice and lemmings. Mr. Albert W. Tuttle (1911) publishes the following account, con- tained in a letter from Mr. Allen Moses, of Grand Manan, New Brunswick ; I saw a pomarine jaeger' catch a phalarbpe. There was a pair of the jaegers. The female started after the phalaropes and chased them a long time. They were too smart for her, and after a long chase. she separated out one, and then the male gave chase, and in a few minutes, with the two chasing the little fel- low, one caught him within a hundred yards of the vessel ; then they both lighted in the water and ate Mm. Behavior.— -Were it not endowed with splendid powers of flight the pomarine jaeger could never perform the feats indicated above. It is not only swift and powerful, but it has wonderful command of its powers on the wing. It can be easily recognized by its superior size and by the peculiar shape of its elongated, central tail feathers, which are broad and blunt and are held with their vanes in a verti- cal plane, like a rudder. Its ordinary flight is steady and direct, with rather slow, constant wing beats. Mr. Walter H. Rich haa 12 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. contributed the following notes on one of its spectacular p ances : On several occasions I have "seen the " gull chaser " turn a com |\ whlcIl somersault in the air to make a dive upon some piece of food on the w the sweeping gale had caused it to overrun. Often, too, it thus piratical raids upon some luckless hag, which, almost too late, 1 in possession of, a morsel which it deems too dainty to be wasted on a mere squealing shearwater. And so it rises against the breeze, turns itself upside down and, with wings half closed, darts at Its victim from above like a lance. But the hag stands to his guns ; a squealing, choking remonstrance, a mighty gulp, and if the jaeger has luck he may capture a small fragment of the spoil. Mr. Rich says that the usual " call is a sharp l which-yew,' also a squeaky whistle, and occasionally a squealing note like the 'week- week ' of the herring gull." Doctor Nelson (1887) says that it " has a low, harsh, chattering cry when feeding with its companions." Its behavior toward other species, which has been partially shown above, is not above criticism ; its motto seems to be that might makes right ; it therefore uses some discretion in the choice of victims for persecution. The terns and the kittiwakes are the ones most regu- larly abused, the ring-billed and the herring gulls are less frequently persecuted, and it seldom ventures to attack the glaucous or the great black-backed gulls. Size arid strength do not always bring courage, and the pomarine jaeger seems to be lacking in the latter quality. Doctor Nelson (1887) writes: They are clumsy and cowardly as compared with their smaller relatives. When one of this species chances to cross the path of the smaller species, the latter almost invariably gives chase and beats its clumsy antagonist off the field by repeatedly darting down from above. This attack embarrasses the large bird, so that it flinches and dives and often alights and watches an opportunity to escape from its nimble assailant One that was driven to alight in the river thrust its head under water at every swoop of its assailant and exhibited the most ludicrous terror. When on the wing they usually ward off an attack from one side by a half-closed wing, and if above, both wings are raised, forming an arched shield above the back. Fall.'— The fall migration of the jaegers is governed largely by the food supply, which depends on the movements of the fish on which the gulls, terns, and shearwaters feed. On the New England coast we usually look for the jaegers in August, especially where the bluefish or mackerel are running in schools and driving the small fry to the surface. During seasons when these fish are scarce the jaegers and shearwaters are absent, perhaps following other schools of fish far out at sea. And when the bluefish and mackerel move off the coast in the fall the jaegers disappear with them. They are seldom seen on our coasts in Winter. We do not know very much about their winter range and habits, but they probably spend this season roaming at large over the open ocean wherever thev can fi A a chance to ply their trade as pelagic pirates. LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TERNS. 13 DISTRIBUTION. Breeding range. — Northern parts of the Northern Hemisphere. In North America east to central Greenland (latitude 64° to 73° N.) . South to Cumberland (Exeter Sound) and Hall Peninsula (Grinnell Bay), Melville Peninsula (Winter Harbor), and the Arctic coast of North America. West to northwestern Alaska (Kotzebue Sound to Point Barrow. North to Melville Island, Banks Island, North Somerset, and probably others of the Arctic islands. In Europe from Iceland to Spitzbergen, and Nova Zembla, perhaps occasionally on the coast, of northern Norway; also in northeastern Siberia and probably the entire Siberian coast. Siberian birds have been de- scribed as a distinct subspecies, but it is doubtful if on good grounds. Winter range. — Poorly defined. Probably in Southern Hemisphere south to Peru (Callao Bay), northern Australia (Cape York), Burma, and South Africa (Walfisch Bay) ; also said to occur on inland waters of Europe south to the Mediterranean, and in small numbers from the coast of southern California to the Galapagos; occasional in winter in the Orkney Islands, off the south coast of England, and off Japan. . It seems probable that these more northern records are, not true wintering birds, but late migrants or stragglers. Spring migration. — Northward off both coasts of North America. Early dates of arrival: North Carolina, Cape Hatteras, April 18; Massachusetts, May 23; Maine, May 29; New Brunswick, Grand Manan, May 26; Melville Peninsula, Winter Harbor, May 29 ; Green- land, June 10 ; California, San Francisco Bay, May 5 ; Alaska, St. Michael, May 23, and Point Barrow, May 23 to June 6; northeastern Siberia, Liakoff Islands, June 20. Fall migration. — Southward by same routes. Early dates of arrival; Newfoundland, Bonne Bay, August 16; Nova Scotia, Sable Island, September 3; Rhode Island, September 13; New Jersey, October; Alaska, Kodiak Island, August 15; Washington, Puget Sound, September 7 ; California, Monterey Bay, August 2 ; Mexican coast, October 5 ; Peru, Callao Bay, November 17. Late dates of departure: Northeastern Greenland, latitude 75° 49' N., August 6; western Greenland, Disco Island, September 6 ; Nova Scotia, Halifax, October 4; Maine, late October ; Massachusetts, December 9; Rhode Island, October 11 ; New York, Long Island, October 30 ; New Jersey, December ; Alaska, Point Barrow, August 15 to September 20 ; Wash- ington, Puget Sound, Oqtober 22; California, Monterey Bay, Octo- ber 27. ;i ,^ Casual records.— Spring records from Nebraska and Michigan and fall records from Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, and Missouri are probably casual stragglers, but they may indicate a limited migra- tion through the interior from Hudson Bay. 14 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. Egg dates.— Point Barrow, Alaska: Twenty-four records June 12 to 27 ; twelve records June 17 to 20. Iceland : Three records May 21, June 1 and 28. STERCOKARIUS PARASITICUS (Linnaeus). PARASITIC JAEGER. HABITS. Contributed by Charles Wendell Towntend. As one watches a flock of terns whirling like driven snow, now here, now there, and ever and anon plunging for fish, one may some-, times see a dark, hawk-like bird suddenly appear on the scene and spread devastation in the ranks. With relentless energy he singles out and pursues some hapless individual until it drops its prey. This is a jaeger, a gull-like bird, with hawk-like characteristics. A more appropriate name for him would be robber rather than jaeger or hunter, for he obtains his food by robbing other birds. He has, however, all the grace and agility of the true hunting birds — the hawks— but his actions rarely end in bloodshed. After all robbery is a less serious crime than murder, but the term robber is oppro- brious, while that of hunter is not, so it is perhaps well that the name remains as it is. The parasitic jaeger is circumpolar in its distribution and breeds throughout the barren arctic grounds in North America, Greenland, Europe, and Asia. In Europe it nests as far south as the Shetlands. It winters from the southern part of its summer range along the coast even as far as Brazil, Australia, and the Cape of Good Hope^ but in the interior of the continents it is only of casual occurence. /Spring. — In the brief arctic spring, when the ice is breaking up and the snowdrifts are dwindling, the parasitic jaeger arrives on the breeding grounds on the tundra near the shores of the Arctic Ocean, or at a distance from the sea on the shores of ponds or lakes. It generally nests apart, not in communities. Of its courtship nothing is known. It is possible that the " wailing cries " described by Nelson and mentioned later may be in the nature of the love song. When surprised near the nest, Nelson (1887) says, "it creeps along the ground with flapping wings to decoy away the intruder." Nesting. — The nest is a mere depression in the soil. Macfarlane (1908) says it is "scantily lined with a few withered leaves and grasses." Grinnell (1900) in the region of Kotzebue Sound, Alaska, says " the nest was a slight saucer-shaped depression on a low mossy hummock on the tundra. This depression was scatteringly lined with bits of white lichen, such as grow immediately around the nest." Thayer and Bangs (1914) report that Koren found it in U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 113 PL. 3 Kolyma Delta .Siberia. J. Koren. Point Barrow, Alaska. Parasitic Jaeger. For description see page 329. T. L. Richardson. LIFE HISTORIES OF NOKTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TEENS. 15 northern Siberia nesting " in dry spots in swamps." Russell (1898) at the mouth of , the Mackenzie, says that "the nest was simply a level bit of dry moss on the tundra a few yards from the water's edge." Eggs. — Only two eggs are laid and one brood hatched. Nelson (1887) says the eggs are laid in northern Alaska by June 5. The egg is ovate inshape, of a dull olive varying to green, gray or brown ground color, with spots, blotches, and lines of a sepia, drab, dark chocolate, and umber-vinaceous color. These markings are some- times distributed with great uniformity over the whole egg or gath- ered as a wreath about the larger end. The measurements of 50 eggs in various collections average 57 by 41 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 61 by 41, 58 by 43, 51 by 40.5, and 56 by 38 millimeters. Phemages.— [Author's note: I have never seen a small specimen of the downy young of the parasitic jaeger, but a half -grown young in my collection, which is still more than half downy, has the down of the upper parts unif orm " natal brown," paler on the head and neck, and shading off to " drab-gray " on the under parts. There is no indication of any mottling anywhere. The juvenal plumage is well advanced on the wings and scapulars, where it evidently appears first; the feathers are appearing through the down all over the breast and belly and on the upper part of the back ; the tail feathers are bursting their sheaths. The sequence of plumages to maturity is practically the same, in both phases, as in the pomarine jaeger, except that the parasitic jaeger normally acquires its fully adult plumage when a little over 2 years old. The first-year plumage is heavily barred abovie and below with rufous edgings, which fade and wear away during the fall and winter. The second-year plumage is less heavily barred, with narrower and whitish edgings above, with much more white in the underparts, with heavily barred under tail-coverts, with some- what elongated central rectrices and sometimes with a suggestion of the golden color. At the second postnuptial molt, when the bird is from 25 to 27 months old, the fully adult plumage is assumed with no mottling or barring anywhere, with the dusky under tail- coverts and crissum and with the elongated central rectrices. During this molt the upper body plumage is completed first, and the last signs of immaturity to disappear are the barred feathers of the chest and flanks. The postnuptial molt of both adults and young is complete and occurs in August, September, and October, the wings being molted in October. There is probably an incom- plete prenuptial molt also, but material is lacking to show it satis- factorily. Fall adults in fresh plumage have the chin, throat, and 16 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL, MUSEUM. neck clouded with light drab and the dark crown less pronounced than in spring. This disappears partially by wear, but I have seen one adult, taken in California on April 29, in which this plumage was being replaced by a partial molt. Adult parasitic jaegers can be distinguished in life at a long dis- tance by the downward extension of the drab mantle on the sides of the neck which seems to form a partial collar; this is entirely absent in the long-tailed jaeger; the long central tail feathers are more pointed and are held differently in flight from those of the pomarine jaeger, as explained under that species; these feathers are, however, an unsafe guide by which to distinguish the parasitic and long-tailed jaegers, as there is much individual variation and overlapping. These last two species can hardly be distinguished in life in the im- mature plumages. For the best characters by which they can be distinguished in the hand I would refer the reader to Dr. Leonhard Stejneger's (1885) excellent remarks on the subject. In the dark phase, which may prove to be a distinct species, the sequence of molts and plumages is practically the same as outlined above, though the birds are much darker in all stages. During the first year the brown edgings are conspicuous, but during the second they are replaced by narrower and whiter edgings, the under tail- coverts being heavily barred in both cases. The adult plumage is wholly sooty, with sometimes a trace of the golden collar.] The proportions of the two phases vary considerably. At Ips- wich in the migrations, which extend over most of the summer, the birds in light phase outnumber the dark birds in the proportion of 8 or 10 to 1. On the Labrador coast I found those in the dark phase more numerous in proportion than at Ipswich. Richardson (1825) says that on the banks of the Coppermine River in the beginning of July the greater part of them had dark abdomens. Grinnell (1900) in Alaska found a sooty bird mated with a light one and remarks that " one could scarcely believe them to be of the same species." He says that half of this species in June and July were in the dark plumage. Thayer and Bangs (1914) mention two pairs in northern Siberia, where all four birds were in the light phase, and one pair at Kodiak Island, Alaska, where the birds were in the dark phase. Nelson (1887) mentioned a similar dark couple. The difference be- tween the two phases seems as great as that between the greater and the sooty shearwaters. Food. — The feeding habits of the parasitic jaeger vary consider- ably with the locality. The host on which it preys is in some places, as on the New England coast, the common tern, although the arctic, roseate, and least terns, as well as the Bonaparte's gull, may in places be added. On the eastern Labrador coast I found the great flocks of LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TERNS. 17 kittiwakes to be the chief source of its supplies, as also is the case in Baffin's Land, for Kumlien (1879) says: This species seems tp depend on Rissa tridactyla for the greater part of its food. Anderson (1913), under the heading "Parasitic jaeger," says: The jaegers are the terror of the smaller birds, spending their time cease- lessly hawking back and forth over the tundra looking for eggs and young birds. Large numbers of eggs of eiders and gulls are destroyed in the rookeries by the jaegers. Whenever the Arctic terns are nesting their neighbors are com- paratively safe, as the belligerent little terns speedily cause any marauding jaeger to beat a hasty retreat. I have also seen ruddy turnstones drive a jaeger away from the nests. I once observed a pair of jaegers chasing a flock of sandpipers. One sandpiper flew out of the flock, the jaegers in pursuit. They seemed to work together, one darting in while the other turned. The sandpiper finally escaped by flying upward until almost out of sight, and the jaegers finally gave up the chase. * * * Some other birds will also attack the jaegers, which are really cowardly birds when heartily opposed. I have on two or three occasions seen a rock ptarmigan fly fiercely at a jaeger which came too near his nesting place and put the jaeger to ignominious flight. Its calling makes it one of the most interesting sea birds to watch. The advent of a jaeger among a flock of terns occasions loud cries of anger among the latter as they scatter to the right and left, while the hunter, singling out one individual, chases it with great energy. No matter how skillfully and rapidly the vic- tim twists and turns, now up, now down, now to one side, now the other, sooner or later, with a few exceptions, it acknowledges de- feat by dropping the fish from its beak or by disgorging the con- tents of its gullet. These, the jaeger, with great skill and agility, catches in mid-air and swallows at once, or on other occasions car- ries hanging from the beak for a short distance before satisfying its appetite. Sometimes it alights on the water, the better to enjoy its meal. Nelson (1887) says: They are very greedy, and frequently swallow so much that they are unable to fly until a portion is disgorged. The victimized tern meanwhile vents its wrath at the robbery in no uncertain language and must again set to work for its living. But the jaegers are not always successful. Thus, on one occasion, I saw a parasitic jaeger pursue a common tern in a straight line for nearly a mile, eventually to give up -the chase. Not infrequently two hunters combine on one victim. Thus I have notes of two jaegers at Ipswich, one in the dark, the other in the light phase, that relentlessly followed a common tern. The bird that secured the prize was at once pursued by his companion and accessory in theft On another occasion two jaegers at Ipswich were chasing a tern that twisted in sharp angles and small circles over the beach 18 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. Finally the tern dropped the fish, which one of the jaegers , Be0 J^| in mid-air. Later the two dashed into a flock of about a nun terns and chased them right, and left. The terns screamed and darted around in great confusion; some retaliated by chasing, jaegers. ^ . Although this bird well justifies its name parasitic, it occasionally does some foraging for itself; thus King (1836) says that it also " subsists on putrid fish and other animal substances thrown up by the sea." Turner (1886), at St. Michael, Alaska, says it eats "fishes that had been cast on the beach, shell fish, and other animal food. They also eat the berries of Empetrum nigrum?'' The latter is the crow berry or the curlew berry of the north, the berry on which the curlew formerly fatted in countless numbers. Turner also relates an instance where a parasitic jaeger picked up a freshly torn-off muskrat skin that was floating on the surface of the water. It seized the skin in its beak and then passed it to its claws, by which it car- ried it off a. little distance and began to strip the adhering muscle and fat from it. Nelson (1887) reported that this species eats also shrews, mice, and lemmings. Eif rig (1905) found bones and feathers in the stomachs. Seton (1908) says that in the region of the lakes of th& barren grounds " it lives much like a hawk or a raven, coming when a cari- bou is killed to share in the oflal. Once saw one capture a Lapland longspur on the wing, and have often seen it pursuing ground squir- rels." Preble (1908) gives the stomach contents of two taken near the Great Slave Lake; the first contained various insects and the bones of, a small bird, evidently a young tern, and the other a dragon fly, Various beetles, and a small fish. Anthony (1906) says: These deep-sea individuals had their stomachs filled to overflowing with fish spawn about the size of No. 5 shot, evidently of some species spawning on the surface where the bird could pick it up without trouble. I have seen this jaeger in Bering Straits diving for surf smelt, together with Pacific kittiwakes; but, like all of their group, they found it difficult to get below the surface, even with the help of a drop of 6 or 8 feet above the water, and seldom neglected an op- portunity to rob the Arctic tern or kittiwake. Behavior. — The flight, swimming, and diving of this species have all been mentioned in the feeding habits. While the first is rapid, graceful, and falcon-like, the two last are seldom indulged in, and not very efficient'.' It is, indeed, a bird of the air and outside of the breeding grounds is rarely seen on shore. On one occasion, however, at Ipswich, I saw a flock of 10 of these birds on the smooth, hard beach. In the chase of terns, it is the tern that uses its vocal powers and the voice of the jaeger is rarely heard. Nelson (1887) says: LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TERNS. 19 On cloudy days or in the dusky twilight, these birds have a habit of uttering loud wailing cries, interspersed with harsh shrieks, which are among the most peculiar notes heard in the northern breeding grounds. Mr. W. Elmer Ekblaw says of the habits of this jaeger in Green- land: The jaeger not only steals the food away from the other birds, but also preys upon their eggs and young. In 1914 I found in one day's tramp two eider nests and one nest of the ring-necked plover that had been despoiled by this ravager. The pierced egg shells were scattered about the nests, as if the jaeger had de- lighted in the destruction he had wrought. The knots and sandpipers of the land birds and the kittiwakes and terns of the sea birds cordially hate the jaeger. In protection of their nests and young these birds often valiantly attack and drive off the greedy jaeger, but usually he pursues them vindictively until they yield to him. He is the particular enemy of the kittiwakes, and whenever he dashes into a flock of them his vicious screams scatter them panic stricken. He then singles out one for his victim and pursues him relentlessly with buteonine tenacity of purpose. Disliked, as parasitic jaegers must be by their victims, they are well able to take care of themselves and have few destructive enemies. Even man, although eagerly taking the eggs for food on the breed- ing grounds, disdains to eat the robber bird. It may, like the strongest of sea birds, at times succumb to the tempest. King (1836) records that one in a storm " sought refuge from the raging elements under the lee of our tent." Fall. — The fall migration of the young of the year begins in Alaska, according to Nelson (1887), after the 20th of September and the birds keep out to sea on the New England coast. I have seen adults at Ipswich as early as July. Here they pursue their calling among the terns until these birds leave for the south, whither they follow them by September, and continue the same methods of mak- ing a living during the winter. DISTRIBUTION. Breedifig range. — Arctic and subarctic regions of both hemispheres. In North America east to Greenland (Disco Bay arid Baffins Bay and probably north to Thank God Harbor. South to northern Labrador (Killinek) , and northern Hudson Bay (Southampton Island) , cen- tral Keewatin (near York Factory), southern Mackenzie (Great Slave Lake), southwestern Alaska (Alaska Peninsula and Kodiak Island), arid the Aleutian Islands. West to Bering Sea coast of Alaska. North to the Arctic coast of Alaska and Mackenzie, also Banks Land (Mercy Bay)', Melville Island (Winter Harbor), and other Arctic Islands to about 80° north latitude. Has been recorded in summer in southeastern Alaska (Glacier Bay) and inay occa- 20 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. sionally breed. In the Old World breeds from Iceland, the Faroe Islands, northern British Isles (north coast Scotland, Orkney, a Shetland Islands, and many of the Hebrides), along the Arctic coast and islands of Europe and Asia to northeastern Siberia. South to tne Commander Islands and probably the Kurile Islands. Breeding grounds protected in the following national reservation in Alaska : Aleutian Islands (as Agattu, Amchitka, and Kiska) . Winter range.— From. Florida (Gulf coast) and southern Cali- fornia (Point Concepcion) southward along both coasts of South America to Argentina (Mar del Plata) and Chile (Valparaiso) and occasionally as far as the Straits of Magellan. In the Eastern Hemi- sphere along the western coast of Europe and Africa to the Cape of Good Hope; also southwestern Asia from the Persian Gulf to the Mekran and Sind coasts, and occasionally New Zealand and Australia. Spring migration.-*- Northward along both coasts. Early dates of arrival : Off Jacksonville, Florida, April 9 ; New Jersey, Stone Har- bor, May 27 ; Massachusetts, May 24 and 31 ; Greenland, Thank God Harbor, June 14 ; Washington, Tacoma, May 17 ; Alaska, St. Michael, May 7; Point Barrow, May 29; Banks Land, May 31; Mackenzie River, June 8. Late dates of departure : Straits of Magellan, March 6; Chile, Valparaiso, March 28; Florida, Matanzas Inlet, May 18; Pennsylvania, Renova, June 18; Ontario, Toronto, June 20; south- ern Labrador, June 21. Fail migration. — Southward along both coasts and irregularly in the interior. Early dates of arrival : Nova Scotia, Sable Island, Sep- tember 9; New Hampshire, Seabrook, September 2; Massachusetts, August 30; Rhode Island, September 2; New York, Long Island, August 6; Brazil, October 26; Argentina, Mar del Plata, October 9; southern Alaska, Cook Inlet, August 22; Washington, Puget Sound, September 2 ; Chile, Valparaiso, November 6. Late dates of departure: Ontario, October 20; Massachusetts, October 22; Rhode Island, November 27; South Carolina, Charleston, November; Well- ington Channel, September 2; Alaska, Point Barrow, September 9, and St. Michael, September 16 ; Pribilof Islands, October 18 ; Wash- ington Puget Sound, November 8 ; California, Monterey Bay, De- cember 12. Casual records. — Fall records from the interior are so numerous that they indicate a regular migration route in limited numbers. Egg abates. — Iceland: Sixteen records, May 21 to June 24; eight records, May 26 to June 14. Northern Canada : Twelve records, June 10 to July 8 ; six records, June 29 to July 8. Northern Alaska : Four records, June 19 and 20 and July 10 and 18. Shetland Islands : five records, May 15 to June 26 ; three records, May 30 to June 15. U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN II 3 PL. 4 St. Michael, A laska. F. S. Hersey. Long-Tailed Jaeger. For description see page 329 LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TERNS. 21 STERCORARIUS LONGICAUDUS Vieillot. LONG-TAILED JAEGER. HABITS. On the rolling Arctic plains or tundra back of Nome, Alaska, we found these handsome birds very common and a conspicuous feature in the landscape, where they had probably reared their young and were spending the summer in congenial surroundings. Some of them were almost constantly in sight, and it was a pleasure to watch their graceful evolutions on the wing, as they coursed about the grassy borders of the little tundra ponds in search of food or perched on the little mossy hummocks to rest or to watch for passing birds that they might rob, or for some small mammal on which they might pounce. Certain of these little mounds seemed to be favorite lookout points for certain individuals or pairs, as there were signs of con- tinued occupancy, and we frequently saw the same mound occupied at various times; perhaps each pair of birds has a sort of feudal domain of its own, from which intruders are driven away. Spring. — The long-tailed jaeger retires to its Arctic summer home very early in the season and arrives on its breeding grounds in ad- vance of its congeners. Dr. E. W. Nelson (1887) says that it arrives in the vicinity of St. Michael about May 12 or 15, but is not numer- ous until 10 days or more later. Mr. Lucien M. Turner (1886) writes : On their first arrival they are somewhat gregarious, though this may be due to the limited portions of ground free from snow. At this time the little pools of the low ground are being rapidly thawed out ; many tracks in the heaving sea ice expose the water to view. These places are then scanned for food. When the ice in the lakes and larger ponds is melted, these birds usually are hovering in the vicinity, or seated on some knoir watching a gull or tern dive for a fish. Nesting. — Doctor Nelson (1887) says of the nesting habits of this species near St. Michael: The mating occurs with a great amount of noisy demonstration on the part of several rivals, but once paired the birds keep by themselves, and early in June deposit their eggs in a depression on the mossy top of some knoll upon rising ground. In one instance, on June 16, while I was securing the eggs of a Macrorhamphus, a pair of these jaegers kept circling about, uttering harsh screams and darting down within a few feet. As I appreached the spot where the snipe's eggs lay I had noticed these birds on a knoll just beyond, but had paid no attention; but as the birds kept leaving me to hover over the knoll and then return to the attack, I examined the spot, and there, in a cup-shaped depression in the moss, lay two dark greenish eggs marked with an abundance of spots. During the breeding season these birds and the preceding species have a cunning habit of tolling one away from their nest by dragging them- selves along the ground and feigning the greatest suffering. They roll about among the tussocks, beat their wingi?,, stagger from side to side, and seem to 22 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. be unable to fly, but they manage to increase the distance from their start ^° g point at a very respectable rate, and ere long suddenly launch forth wing. Mr. Hersey found a nest of the long-tailed jaeger, with two eggs on the point of hatching, near St. Michael on June 19, 1915. The eggs were laid in a natural depression of irregular shape on the top of a dry mound slightly raised above the surrounding wet tundra; there were several higher mounds within a few yards. The female could be plainly seen sitting on her nest from a considerable dis- tance. She allowed him to approach within 20 yards before she flew, when both she and the male swooped about his head. Within 50 feet of this nest a willow ptarmigan was sitting on her nest with six eggs. Mr. Johan Koren, according to Messrs. Thayer and Bangs, (1914), found a remarkable nest of this species, in northeastern Siberia, on June 22, 1912. The eggs lay in a slight depression on the level, mossy ground . in a dry, high, larch forest. Both parent birds were present, and both had acquired the habit of alighting and perching in the tree tops. This was a decided exception to the rule, however, as the nest is usually placed on some slight elevation on the flat or rolling open tundra, where a few pieces of dry grass, bits of mosses or leaves are scraped together in a slight hollow. The birds are very courage- ous in the defense of, the nest, swooping down at the intruder or flying straight at his face and turning or rising just in time to miss striking him. After the young are hatched, however, they become more cautious and seldom approach within gunshot, lest they betray the presence of the young, which are cleverly hidden in the grass. Eggs. — The long-tailed jaeger lays almost invariably two eggs, occasionally only one, and very rarely three. The eggs are almost indistinguishable from those of the parasitic jaeger, but they aver- age slightly smaller and are usually a little more blunt in shape. The shape varies from ovate to short ovate; usually nearer the latter. The shell is smooth and thin, but has very little luster. The ground color varies from " light brownish olive " or " Dresden brown," in the darkest eggs, to " tawny olive," " Isabella color," " light yellow- ish olive," or even " olive buff," in the lightest eggs. The eggs are irregularly spotted or blotched, chiefly about the larger end with " raw umber," " Prout's brown," or other lighter shades of brown. Often there are also numerous underlying spots and blotches of various shades of drab. The measurements of 48 eggs in the United States National Museum collection, average 55 by 39 milli- meters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 61.5 by 42.5, 56 by 50, 47 by 38.5, and 49.5 by 36 millimeters. U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN M3 PL. 5 Kolyma Delta, Siberia. J. K oren. Northeast Greenland. Long-Tailed Jaeger. For description see paqe 329. A, L. V, Manniche. LIFE HISTORIES OP HORTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TEENS. 23 The period of incubation is 23 days. Both sexes incubate. Mr. A. L. V. Manniehe (1910) writes: As far as I could notice the sexes divided the breeding duties evenly between themselves. The posture of the bird while brooding is high, the neck and head erected. While the one bird broods, the other guards its mate and the hunt- ing territory. As soon as a bird of the same species or another larger bird appears upon the scene, the watching bird utters a long penetrating cry and attacks the unwelcome guest; having chased him ofE, the skua again takes its seat near the brooding mate. If you retire some 50 meters the bird will quickly settle upon the nest again. The clamorousness and fearlessness of the bird make it easy to discover nearly every nest, even on a most extensive ter- ritory. If the eggs be removed from the nest, the skua will nevertheless as a rule lie down upon the nest for some few minutes. In a certain case I saw a bird lying more than half an hour upon the empty nest. ■ Young. — The chicks, which soon after the hatching leave the nest, seem during the first days to be principally fed with insects. In the gullet of a newly hatched bird I found a crane-fly (Tipula), but they are even when quite young able to eat lemmings, which the parents hunt, eat, and afterwards dis- gorge before them. The young ones grow very quickly. It is a well-known fact that the young of this skua appear before the first molt in two-color varieties — a pale and a dark. The pale variety seems to occur somewhat more frequently than the dark. Though this and the preceding species were both common in north- western Greenland, the members of the Crocker Land Expedition failed to find the nest of either. To illustrate the peculiar behavior of this species near its nest, I quote from Mr. Ekblaw's notes of July 16, 1914, as follows: • .Though I failed to find them I felt confident that I had been very near either the eggs or the young of Stercorarius longicaudus to-day. Among the rocks just above Moraine Lake a pair of these birds flew uneasily about me and alighted from time to time near me as I searched at length for the nest that I suspected was on the plateau. ( The male boldly perched, within 40 feet of me, and though the female was shyer she did not leave me far either. An in- genious deceit that the female attempted is worthy of note. After flying nervously near and about me she flew to a large bowlder and settled down snugly beside it, to all appearance as if she were returning to her nest. I hastened to the place exultantly, only to find, when the bird flushed, that she had deceived me. After another nervous flight about me she repeated the performance, and again I was deceived, even though I; waited until I thought she would tire of her strategy, if deceit it were. When she tried a third time to, delude. me I waited to let, her tire, but her patience outwore mine and I finally flushed her. In an hour's search of the moraine afterwards I failed to find any nest. Plumages, — The only downy young that I have seen is plainly colored without any dark markings. It varies from "bister" or "buffy brown" above to "wood brown" below, being darkest on the back." Yarrell (1871) describes "a nestling in half-down" as "pale smoke-brown on the downy head and under parts with very dark brown feathers tipped with rufous on the back and wings." 174785—21 3 24 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL, MUSEUM. Although the adults of the long-tailed jaeger are not known to have light and dark phases, there seem to be two quite distinct types of coloration in the juvenal plumages. In the dark phase the upper parts are dark "brownish black," or "clove brown ; the head, neck, and chest are mainly dusky, the latter mottled with "wood brown"; the feathers of the back and wing-coverts are edged with " cinnamon " or " wood brown," and the rump is spotted with the latter color; the lower parts are mainly buff, mottled and barred, chiefly on the sides and under tail-coverts, with dusky. In the light phase the upper parts are much the same as in the dark phase, but much lighter colored, and the pale " wood brown " edgings are broader and more prevalent ; the head and neck are mainly " pinkish buff " and the crown is but little darker ; the head is uniformly cov- ered with linear streaks of pale dusky; the under parts are largely whitish, tinged with pale "pinkish buff," nearly immaculate on the breast and belly, but heavily barred on the sides and under tail- coverts with dusky. These descriptions are taken from young birds, collected early in August, in full, fresh, juvenal plumage. Other specimens taken late in September show similar well-marked color phases, but birds a year older do not seem to show them. This plum- age is worn, with slight modifications, during the first year; the brown edgings fade out to white and gradually wear away; prob- ably a partial molt occurs during the winter and spring. At the first postnuptial molt, the following summer, a complete change produces the second-year plumage. In this plumage the upper parts are much as in the adult, except that there is only a trace of the yellow on the sides of the head, often none at all; the two central tail feathers now project decidedly beyond their fellows, which was hardly noticeable in the previous plumage; but the under parts are more or less barred with dusky, particularly on the flanks and chest, and heavily so on the under tail-coverts. This plumage is worn for about a year or so until the second postnuptial molt, which is com- plete, beginning in June and lasting through September. At this molt the long central tail feathers and the dusky under tail-coverts are assumed ; the young birds then assume the adult plumage when a little over 2 years old. Adults have a partial prenuptial molt in the early spring and a complete postnuptial molt in August, September, and October. The seasonal changes in adults are not conspicuous, though freshly molted birds in the fall have the chin, throat, and neck clouded with light drab and the dark crown less pronounced than in the spring. The characters by which this and the foregoing species can be recognized are somewhat involved and confusing; so, rather than discuss them here, I would refer the student to Dr. L. StejnegerV (1885) excellent remarks oh the subject. LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TERNS. 25 Food. — In their summer homes on the tundra these jaegers live on a varied bill of fare. They are said to feed largely on lemmings, field mice (Microtus), and other small mammals. They catch flies, butterflies, .and other insects and eat their larvae. In the summer they rob bird's nests to devour the eggs and young, and sometimes they pursue and kill wounded birds for food. Probably a few fish are caught and many are stolen from gulls and terns. They also pick up considerable offal of various kinds, as well as small crus- taceans and worms. During the latter part of the season they feed largely on crow-berries (Empetrum nigrum) and other berries. While migrating or during the winter they associate with the smaller gulls and terns, depending largely for food on what they can steal from these industrious birds or what they can pick up, in com- pany with these common scavengers, in the way of garbage. Behavior.— -To watch the long-tailed jaeger in flight is one of the delights of the Arctic summer, for it is one of the swiftest and most graceful of birds on the wing ; its light and slender form is propelled by its long, pointed wings with the speed of an arrow, its broad tail serving as an effective rudder, as it twists and turns in pursuit of its fellows or some luckless gull or tern, with its long central tail feathers streaming in the wind. Doctor Nelson (1887) says: They appear to be much more playful than the other jaegers, and parties of six or eight may be seen pursuing one another back and forth over the marsh. The long, slender tail feathers and extreme grace on the wing of these birds render them very much like the swallow-tailed kite. Mr. Turner (1886) observes that it is " extremely swift on the wing, and when pursuing another bird thrashes the air with wing and tail, giving an undulatory motion to the body." It swims lightly and gracefully on the water, holding its long tail pointed upward ; but I bave never known it to dive below the surface. Doctor Nelson (1887) describes the notes as follows: They have a shrill pheu-pheu-pheu-pheo, uttered while they are flying, and when the birds are quarreling or pursuing one another the ordinary note is often followed by a harsh qua. At other times they have a rattling kr-r-r-r, kr-r-r-r, kr-r-r-r, kri, kri-kri-kri, the latter syllables shrill and querulous and sometimes followed by the long drawn phefi-pheu-pheu in the same tone. All writers refer to the predaceous habits of the jaegers. Their be- havior toward other species is certainly not above criticism. On their breeding grounds they have the reputation of being nest robbers, according to the reports of the natives, eating the eggs and small young of any of the birds which are smaller or weaker than them- selves. Such pilfering is done on the sly, however, for the jaeger is far from courageous and is often attacked and driven away from the nests of gulls, terns, curlew, sandpipers, and other shore birds. 26 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. Doctor Nelson (1887) " saw a jaeger swoop down at a duck paddling quietly on the surface of a pond, and the latter went flapping away in mortal terror, while the jaeger passed on, probably highly pleased at giving the duck such a fright." Mr. Turner (1886) says : Should one of their kind be shot and slightly wounded the others will gather around it, and if not frightened away will soon dispatch their comrade. Mr. Hersey's notes on the long-tailed jaeger at St. Michael state: I have found this jaeger to be more peaceable and less given to chasing the gulls than the parasitic. I have seen as many as five or six of this species and a dozen or more short-billed gulls feeding in company on the refuse from the. hotel, which had been put on a scow to be carried out into the bay and dumped ; each bird paid no heed to his companions and there was no quarreling. The small shore birds and longspurs seem to regard him as an enemy, however, and follow him about over the tundra whenever one appears. Both this and the parasitic jaeger show caution when among a flock of glaucous gulls, and I have never seen them attempt to molest one of these large birds. At times they bother the little Sabine's gulls. Mr. Frank C. Hennessey, who has sent me his notes on the birds of Winter Harbor, says, on the other hand, that " they tyrannize all others of their tribe, including the snowy owl, and make known their presence by successions of sharp but not discordant cries. These birds, considering their size, are quite able to fight for and defend themselves, particularly when any intruder may happen to encroach on the locality in which their nest is situated; in such a case they have been known to even attack the Arctic fox." Mr. A. L. V. Manniche (1910) writes : Not rarely I observed falcons pursued by skuas (Lestris longicauda) . At the end of August the young skuas will frequently be sitting around on stones, still cared for by their parents, which with extreme violence will guard their offspring against attack from falcons. The skuas exceed by far the gyrfalcons in ability of flight, and the falcons therefore always wish to escape the pursuit and retire to the rocks. Most frequently three or four, skuas would join in an attack. The battle would usually be fought out immensely high up in the air. Mr. Walter H. Kich has contributed the following notes on the behavior of jaegers on the fishing banks among the shearwaters: Both yagers and skuas bully the " hags," dropping on their backs as often as these latter are found enjoying a dainty bit. The yagers fight and quarrel much among themselves also. On several occasions the writer saw them clinch in the air to f^ll 20 or 30 feet, striking and clawing all the while. Only rarely do they annoy the skuas, and then somewhat carefully, usually in breezy 1 weather, when they may the more easily escape consequences through their superior abilities in maneuvering; less often still do they trouble the large gulls, as the "black backs." Of the latter species I saw one in the brown plumage, when weaving his dignified flight through a cloud of " kittiwakes,V turn suddenly to shoot upward and seize a long-tailed yager by the flank, bringing away a mouthful of feathers with a wicked side wrench of his head, causing the victim to squeal in angry indignation and put on full power ahead! LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TERNS. 27 It seemed to be sheer malevolence on the gull's part, for the yager was merely balancing before and above him in the gale, unmindful of his enemy's presence until the blow fell. Yet it may have been the payment of some ancient grudge. The behavior of this and the foregoing species among the gulls and terns along on coasts is well known and has already been well described under the previous species. But the following passage from Audubon (1840) seems worth quoting: It generally passes through the air at a height of 50 or 60 yards, flying in an easy manner, ranging over the broad bays, on which gulls of various kinds are engaged in procuring their food. No sooner has it observed that one of them has secured a fish than it immediately flies toward it and gives chase. It is almost impossible for the gull to escape, for the warrior, with repeated jerkings of his firm pinions, sweeps toward it with the rapidity of a peregrine falcon pouncing on a duck. Each cut and turn of the gull only irritates him the more and whets his keen appetite until, by two or three sudden dashes, he forces it to disgorge the food it had so lately swallowed. This done, the poor gull may go in search of more ; the lestris is now for a while contented and alights on the water to feed at leisure. But soon, perceiving a distant flock of gulls, he rises on wing and speeds toward them. Renewing his attacks, he now obtains an abundant supply and at length, when quite gorged, searches for a place on which to alight unseen by any other of his tribe more powerful than himself. Fall. — During the months of August and September the jaegers. old and young, leave their northern breeding grounds and start on their southward migration, and the first arrivals often appear on the coasts of New England and California during the former month, showing that some individuals must start very early or must mi- grate very rapidly. Doctor Nelson (1887) says that "the long-tailed species is less frequently found at sea than the last, and is rarely found about the ice pack north of Bering Straits." Numerous rec- ords from the interior of the United States and Canada would seem to indicate that the' main migration route is overland rather than coastwise. Winter. — Prof. Wells W. Cooke (1915) makes the remarkable statement that " it seems probable that the long-tailed jaeger does not regularly winter anywhere in the Western Hemisphere. The winter home is in the Eastern Hemisphere, south to Gibraltar on the Atlantic side and to Japan on the Pacific." He evidently regards all the numerous fall records on both coasts and in the interior as accidental occurrences and either overlooks or disregards Audubon's (1840) statement that this species " often ranges " to the coasts of Florida and the Gulf of Mexico in winter; as well as Wayne's (1910) more recent records for South Carolina in December and Florida in February, where it was " observed in numbers." 28 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. DISTRIBUTION. Breeding range.— Arctic coasts of both hemispheres. In North America from northwestern Alaska (Yukon Delta) along the coast at least as far east as Franklin Bay; on Ellesmere Land, Grinnell Land, and northern Greenland (on the west coast from Disco Bay north to 82° and on the east coast from Scoresby Sound north to 80°) ; probably on other islands in the Arctic Archipelago. South to north- ern Labrador (Cape Chidley), Southampton Island, and the west coast of Hudson Bay (probably as far south as York Factory). In the Eastern Hemisphere Iceland, Spitzbergen^ Nova Zembla, the coast of northern Scandinavia, the Kola Peninsula, the Lower Pet- chora River, and the Arctic coast of Siberia south at least to the Gulf of Anadyr and St. Lawrence Island. Winter range. — American winter records are very scarce. Has been seen at Caper's Island, South Carolina, on December 21, and off the St. Johns River, Florida, in February ; has been taken once in California (Hyperion) , January 26 ; taken and reported common in Argentina (Mar del Plata) in October; and taken in Chile (Val- paraiso) in March and November. In the Eastern Hemisphere it winters south to Gibraltar and the Mediterranean, and on the Asiatic side to the northern Kurile Islands. Spring migration. — Early dates of arrival: Florida, east coast, April 8; New Jersey, 80 miles off Barnegat, May 6; Ellesmere Land, Cape Sabine, May 23; northeastern Greenland, latitude 80°, May 28 to June 6. Dates of arrival in Alaska: St. Michael, May 12 to 15; Nulato, May 15; Kowak River, May 22; Point Barrow, May 30; Demarcation Point, May 24. Taken at Vancouver Island, May 11. Fall migration. — Southward along both coasts and through the in- terior. Early dates of arrival : Massachusetts, Woods Hole, August 12 ; Connecticut, Wallingford, August 30 ; Alaska, Forrester Island, August 24; British Columbia, Chilliwack, August 23; California, Monterey Bay, August 2. Late dates of departure : Ellesmere Land. Fort Conger, August 30 ; Massachusetts, Monomoy Island, September 29, and Woods Hole, October 13 ; Alaska, Point Barrow, August 21, and St. Michael, September 12 ; British Columbia, Okanagan Land- ing, September 18 ; California, September 19. Interior dates : South- ampton Island, August 17; Manitoba, Lake Winnipeg, September and October 8 ; Missouri, Lake Como, October ; Indiana, August 20, September 11 and 12, and November 30 ; Illinois, Cairo, November. Egg dates.— Northern Alaska: Ten records, June 6 to July 12; five records, June 8 to 19. Northern Canada : Sixteen records, June 16 to July 12 ; eight records, June 27 to 30. Lapland : Nine records, June 2 to 20 ; four records, June 14 to 18. LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TERNS. 29 Family LARIDAE, Gulls and Terns. PAGOPHILA ALBA (Gtmnerus). IVOKT GULL. HABITS. This beautiful, snow-white gull of the Arctic regions is decidedly boreal in summer and seldom wanders far south even in winter. It is circumpolar in its distribution and has been noted by nearly all Arctic explorers in both hemispheres. The names " ice-partridge " and " snow-bird," which are applied to this species, are both very appropriate, for the bird lives almost constantly in the vicinity of ice and snow, where its spotless plumage matches its surroundings. It is largely a bird of the open polar seas, frequenting the edges of the ice floes in company with the fulmars and other Arctic sea birds, and seldom resorting to the land except during the breeding season. Nesting. — Prof. Robert Collett (1888) has given us a very good account of the nesting habits of the ivory gull, based on information f uinished by Capt. Johannesen, who visited a breeding colony on the small island of Storoen, near Spitzbergen, in 1887. I quote from his excellent paper, as follows : On the 8th of August, when he visited the island, he found young birds in all stages, from newly hatched to fully fledged, together with a small number of eggs, which, however, were on the point of hatching, and in all probability not one would have been left a week later. StorSen is about 9 English miles in length and 6 in breadth ; the greater part of its surface is covered by a glacier, which rises to a height of about 400 feet; the remaining portions consist of sand and gravel, with here and there small stones, likewise oases covered with moss ; while in a few places the ground consisted only of rock. L. eburneus was breeding on the northeast side of the island, close to, or only a short way above, high-water mark, on low-lying ground like L. canus, L. fuscus, etc., and not in the cliffs. Capt. Johannesen estimated the number of nests at from 100 to 150; they were somewhat apart, at distances varying from 2 to 4 yards. There were one or two eggs or young, but never more in a nest. On being examined at Tromso it was found that all the 19 eggs contained almost fully developed young chicks. Many of the nests contained young of various ages, whilst others were already empty. Several black-spotted young, capable of flight, were seen, likewise several young birds of the previous year's brood remained on the breeding ground. The nest is composed chiefly of green moss, which forms about nine-tenths of its mass. The rest consists of small splinters of driftwood, a few feathers, single stalks, and leaves of algae, with one or two particles of lichen. No trace of straw is to be found ; a couple of pebbles may possibly have appertained to the underlayer of the nest. The mosses occur in pieces the size of a walnut, or less, and have evidently been plucked in a fresh state from a dry subsoil, either on rocks or gravelly places. The mosses are all sterile. Several of the splinters of driftwood were found of a length of about 100 millim. Under the microscope they all proved to be of conifers, probably larch, drifted from the Siberian rivers. Some were very old ; 30 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. others, however, being still hard and possessing a fresh appearall p e robaW y feathers, of which only a few were found, are snowy white and have p fallen from the brooding bird. Some -portions of tbe.algae were dry, era P leaves and stalks of seaweed. Only a few bits of a lichen were found, w appear to have got in accidentally.' A most interesting account of the home life of this species in Franz Josef Land is published by Mr. W. Eagle Clarke (1898), in which he quotes ^rom the journal of Mr. "William S. Bruce ? pf the Jackson-Harmsworth Expedition, as follows : August 7. To-day we landed at Cape Mary Harmsworth, and the first, thing we noted was an immense number of ivory gulls, and from their demonstrations and shriekings it soon became evident that they were nesting. As we traveled across the low-lying spit we found this was so. Here there are 5 or 6 square miles or more of fairly level ground, more or less terraced, being evidently a series of raised beaches. This, if not the largest, is one of the; largest, areas of bare ground in Franz Josef Land. Beyond a few lichens and occasional patches of moss there is very little vegetation, only two flowering plants being, found — a saxifrage and a grass, and these very sparingly, indeed. There is very little actual soil, and the surface is rough and rugged with large stones. Scattered all over it are numerous fresh-water ponds, the largest of them perhaps 200 yards across. The first signs of the ivory gulls' nests were patches of old moss every here and there, which at first we could not make out. As we advanced we saw more of these patches, and these seemed more compact. On approaching closer to these the birds made still more vehement demonstrations, swooping down upon us and giving vent to their feelings by uttering a perfectly deafening shriek close to our heads. Once in the midst of their nests — for these patches of moss were their nests — we had many hundreds of birds around us, first one swooping down to within a foot of our heads, and immediately after another. In some cases they actually touched us, and in one instance knocked the hat off a man's head. Most of the nests were empty, owing to the late date ; but here and there was a single egg, and in two nests I found two eggs. Going on through this gullery we found that near certain nests, which were apparently empty, the birds made even more violent demonstrations than before, and in looking carefully about we descried a young ivory- gull in its greyish-white downy plumage, and hardly visible against the stones, which were of a very similar color. Even the older ones, which were more whitish, were difficult to see among the stones. These young birds would sit crouched in between two or three large stones, and one might at first sight take them for stones also. On picking up a young bird the parents became quite distracted* and threatened us more vehemently than ever. By-and-by we passed out of this gullery, but further along we could see others, each with many hundreds of these birds, and we advanced toward them. The gullery we left gradually became quiet; -but the birds in the one which we were approaching were beginning to demonstrate in the same way as those at the last. The cries became louder and louder, and in a few minutes we were again in the midst of the deafening shrieks of a host of terrified yet defiant birds. Again they swooped down upon us, and it seemed quite likely that at any moment they might dash into our faces. So we passed on from gullery to gullery among many thousand of these birds. It was a magnificent sight; the sun was shining brightly in a blue sky, the air was clear, and these handsome birds in their pure white plumage added brilliancy to the scene. Each nest U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 113 PL. 6 Northeast Greenland. A. L, V. Manniche. Northeast Greenland. Ivory Gull. For description see page 329. A. L. V. Manniche. LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TERNS. 31 is, as I have said, composed of a pile of moss, in shape a truncated cone, and may be from 6 to 9 inches in height and from 18 inches to 2 feet in diameter. There is no hollow on, the top of this more or less level pile, upon which the egg is deposited or the young bird sits. I noticed many dead young birds, some quite recently deceased, for they were still warm, while others had been dead for some time. In nearly every case their crania had been indented. Doctor Malmgren, of the Swedish expedition to Spitzbergen in 1861, found a colony of ivory gulls breeding in entirely different situ- ations. Baird, Brewer, and Kidgway (1884) quote from his notes, as follows : On the 7th of July, 1861, 1 found on the north shore of Murchison Bay, latitude 80° N., a number of ivory gulls established on the side of a steep limestone precipice some hundred feet high in company with the Rissa tridactyla and Larus glaucus. The last named occupied the higher zones of the precipice. The Larus eburneus, on the other hand, occupied the niches and clefts lower down, at a height of from 50 to 100 feet. I could plainly see that the hen birds were sitting on their nests, but these were inaccessible. Circumstances did not permit before the 30th of July my making the attempt, with the help of a long rope and some necessary assistance, to get at the eggs. With the assistance jf three men I succeeded in reaching. two of the lowest in situation, and each contained one egg. The nest was artless and without connection and con- sisted of a shallow depression 8 or 9 inches broad in a loose clay or mold on a sublayer of limestone. Inside the nest was carefully lined with dry plants, moss, grasses, and the like, and a few feathers. The eggs were much in- cubated and already contained down-clad young. Both of the hen birds were shot upon their nests and are now in the National Museum. The male birds were at first observable, but disappeared when we began the work of reaching their nests. Eggs.— The ivory gull lays a set of one or two eggs. Two of the eggs taken by Captain Johannesen are in our National Museum, and Major Bendire (1888) has described them as follows: Their ground color is buffish olive ; in one egg, somewhat paler, perhaps more of an olive-drab tint. The surface markings, more or less irregularly dis- tributed over the entire egg,- vary from clove-brown to bistre. The underlying or shell markings vary from slate to lilac-gray in tint and predominate in the larger specimen. In the smaller and darker one, both styles of markings are about equally distributed. The two kinds of spots vary considerably in size and shape. Professor Collett (1888) describes nine of the eggs, as follows: The ground color of five specimens is almost entirely alike — viz, a light grayish-brown tint, with faint admixture of yellowish green, such as often appears on the eggs of L. carws; which, however, have often a deeper brown or green hue. In structure and gloss all nine eggs greatly resemble those of L. canus; but the granulations under the microscope are a little coarser, more uneven, and in larger numbers; on the other hand, the granulations are per- ceptibly finer than in. L. fuscus. The eggs are easily distinguished from those of Rissa tridactyla by their greater gloss, and the small excrescences do not lie quite so crowded, and are a little more flattened than they usually are in the last-mentioned species. 32 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. The measurements of 32 eggs in various collections average 60.5 by 43.6 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 69.3 by 41.5, 62,6 by 44.6, 57 by 43. and 60.5 by 40 millimeters. Plumages.— Prof. Collett (1888) describes the downy young as "white all over; the down white to the root"; and says that " even in this first stage the young in down may be distinguished from the young of other species by the strong and hooked claws, especially on the hind toe, the somewha^ marginated web on the toes, and the forward nostrils. The downy covering is particularly close ;L. eburneus in this respect is more closely related to the other species of Larus, than to Rissa, the hairlike tips being shorter," A downy young bird in Doctor Bishop's collection, collected on King Charles Island on August 3, 1901, is covered with long, soft down, evenly colored above and below, " pallid mouse gray " shading into " pearl gray " at the base of the down. This is an older bird, how- ever, as the first feathers are appearing on the scapulars. Mr. Howard Saunders, in his edition of Yarrell (1871) says : The nearly fledged young are described by Richardson 1 as having ash-gray backs ; but with regard to the subsequent stages of plumage there is an absence of satisfactory details, and the editor can only place the following facts before his readers : In the autumn of 1880 Mr. Leigh Smith brought back from Franz-Josef Land a bird which was supposed to be the survivor of several young taken from the nest, and which was presented to the zoological gardens. Its prevailing tone was gray, owing, perhaps, to the saturation of the plumage with grease and dirt acquired on board the steam yacht, where the bird is said to have frequented the stokehole; but after constant washing since its arrival at the gardens the bird still remained of a smoke gray, nearly as dark as a fulmar petrel on the upper parts, and especially so on the tail coverts, the feathers of the back and wing coverts having slightly darker shafts, and the head bearing not merely a mask but a short hood of a darker gray than the neck and the. underparts. The tail was reduced by abrasion to a mere stump. Such was the description given by the editor when the birc was supposed to be from three to four months old, a and its correctness can be corroborated by other observers. It was naturally expected that at the next moult the bird would pass into the well-known spotted plumage, but no spots made their appearance, and this example at once assumed the pure white plumage which it now (April, 1884) displays. This omission of the spotted stage may, perhaps, be owing to captivity in a comparatively warm climate; the editor is unable to account for it. The ordinary immature or first-winter plumage is white, heavily mottled with dusky or dark grayish spots on the sides of the head and throat, concentrating into almost solid color in the loral region; scattering spots of the same slate-gray are on the hind neck and upper back. The scapulars have subterminal dusky spots, as do also many of the lesser and nearly all of the greater wing coverts and tertials. The primaries, secondaries, and rectrices are broadly i Journal of a boat-voyage, p. 281. * Zoologist, 1880, p. 484. LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TERNS. 33 tipped with dusky, narrowly edged with white. As to how long this plumage is worn or at what age the adult, pure white plumage is acquired, I am in doubt. Selby (1833) says: As the bird advances in age the brown spots and bars gradually decrease at each molt, and it is supposed to be perfectly matured in two years and a half. I very much doubt if it requires any such time as two years to reach maturity, and I have never seen a bird with any spots on it at all, except a few on the edge of the wing, which I thought was over a year old. Probably the dusky tips wear away somewhat during the winter or are partially replaced by white feathers at an incom- plete prenuptial molt, and at the first postnuptial molt the pure white adult plumage is assumed ; but, unfortunately, I have not been able to study sufficient material to determine this with certainty or to understand fully the seasonal molts of adults. Adults ap- parently have but one complete annual molt in July and August. I have seen an adult which had not begun to molt its much-worn plumage on July 3, and another, in fresh plumage, which had com- pleted the molt on August 30. These are in the Dwight collection, which also contains two specimens, taken July 6 and 13, molting both wings and tails, and another, taken on May 30, in which the wings are molting, beginning with the inner primaries. Food.^-The feeding habits of the ivory gull are hardly becoming a bird of such pure and spotless plumage. It is a greedy and vora- cious feeder and is none too particular about the quality of its food or how it obtains it. When some of these birds have been feeding on the carcass of a whale they present a sorry spectacle, for in their eagerness to satisfy their gluttonous appetite they crowd them- selves into the entrails of the animal and their beautiful white plumage becomes smeared with blood. They are particularly fond of the blubber and flesh of whales, walruses, and seals, even when somewhat putrid, and, when busily engaged in such a feast they are tame and unsuspicious. Nothing in the way of animal food comes amiss to them and they even frequent the holes in the ice used by seals for the purpose of feeding on the excrement of these ani- mals. Pieces of meat, blood, or offal from slain animals scattered on the ice or snow will always attract them. Any refuse thrown from the galley of a ship is readily picked up. Mr. Kumlien (1879) says that he once saw one try to swallow the wing of an eider, which the cook threw overboard. They also feed to a large extent on lem- mings and other small rodents. On their breeding grounds, in the Polynia Islands, Captain McClintock (1856) found the bleached bones of lemmings scattered about their nests, " also fresh pellets, consisting of their bones and hair." 34 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. Behavior.— The flight of the ivory gull is said to be light and graceful. Yarrell (1871) says "that its note is shrill and not un- like that of the Arctic tern, and its flight is more like that of a tern than of an ordinary gull." Nuttall (1834) writes: "Its. only note consists of a loud and disagreeable scream." Selby (1833) says: "Its voice is strong and harsh." Mr. A. L. : y.. Manniche. (1910) says: "This pretty bird, with its short but sonorous note,,, would make a wonderfully animating impression in these silent and deso- late surroundings." Winter. — The migration amounts merely to a withdrawal from its breeding grounds and such northern portions of its summer range as are rendered uninhabitable by the closing in of ice and snow. The species is merely forced southward by the advance' of winter condi- tions and frequents the more or less open edge ; of t the ice pack all winter. Mr. Clarke (1898) makes this statement: Dr. Neale records that in the autumn of 1881 the ivory gulls departed from Gape Flora (Franz Josef Land) at the end of October, and arrived there the following spring on the 20th of April. Pr. Nansen observed them for the first time in 1896 as early as the 12th of March, at his winter quarters on Frederick Jackson Island. On the Labrador coast it seems to occur in the late fall only. Mr. Kumlien (1879) noted it as " very common " in Cumberland Sound " just before it froze up, for a few days only." Doctor Townsend (1907) writes: Dr. Mumford, Mr. Frank Lewis, and others at Battle Harbor told us of shoot- ing " ice patridges," which came with-the ice and seals in November ! or Decem- ber. They stay for about two weeks or a month and then depart,- not to be seen again for a year. At times they are very abundant and even fly ; about the houses. These birds are shot for food, and - are often obtained in the following manner : About a gallon of seals' blood is poured on the ice near the rocks, and as the birds hover about they are easily shot. Some of the birds in their eager- ness to obtain the blood dash themselves with such force against the ice as to kill themselves. A recent occurrence of the ivory gull in Portland Harbor, Maine, is recorded by Mr. Arthur H. Norton (1918) ; he and Mr. Walter H. Rich observed it at short range on January 5, 1918. He says : The snowy whiteness of its plumage was always noticeably different from any other gull in the harbor, which contained at the time an abundance of Larus argehtatus in all plumages, Larus kumlieni, and Larus leucopterus. Its habits and flight also differed distinctly ; it was much more restless, now alighting on the ice, either to remain at rest for a few minutes, or to feed at . the water's edge, and then away to search the edge of the ice field or to feed near some of the docks. It seemed to pay little or no attention to the other gulls or their feeding. On the ice it ran rapidly, suggesting the action of a large plover. LIFE HISTORIES OE NORTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TERNS. 35 Its restlessness and Independent action suggested to me the action of Larus atricilla, as it appears in the company of Larus argentatus. Its dashing flight seemed more like that of a jaeger than that of a gull. The wing was used at full extent with very little flexure at humero-radial and carpal joints, and was broad and wedge shaped in comparison with the narrower wing of Larus argenatus. It was seen for the last time January 7 by Mr. Rich, though daily watch has been kept to the present time (Feb. 22, 1918). During the period that the bird was seen the mercury was hardly rising above 0° F., and the harbor and bay was a solid field of ice except as broken by the ever busy tugs laboring to keep an open channel. DISTRIBUTION. Breeding range. — High northern latitudes, probably circumpolar. Known breeding places: Prince Patrick Island, Melville Island (Winter Harbor) , northern Baffin Land (Port Bowen) , and northern Greenland (Kane Basin and Kennedy Channel, and on the north- eastern coast from latitude 74° to 81°) ; also said to have bred at Darnley Bay, east of Franklin Bay, on the Arctic coast. In the Eastern Hemisphere, at Storoen near Spitzbergen and Franz Josef Land, Winter range. — Probably the open circumpolar seas as far north as unfrozen water occurs. Said to occur in some numbers in winter in southern Greenland and along the Labrador coast. In Europe it occasionally winters about the coasts of Great Britain and Ireland and northern France. Many winter records are of single birds, probably stragglers. Spring migration. — Early dates of arrival: Melville Island, Win- ter Harbor, May 24; Ellesmere Land, Peterman Fiord, May 28; Greenland, Etah, June 1; Prince Patrick Island, June 12.' Late dates of departure: Quebec, Godbout, March 7; Labrador, Sand- wich Bay, June 12 ; Alaska, Point Barrow, May 22 to June 2. Fall migration.-^ all. and winter wanderings are erratic. Dates of arrival: Cumberland Gulf, October 24 and November 5; Anti- costi Island, October; Quebec, Godbout, December 9; New Bruns- wick, St. John, November ; Maine, Portland, January 4 and 5 ; Massa- chusetts, Monomoy Island, December 1; Long Island, 'Sayville, January 5 ; Bering Strait, November 9 ; Commander Islands, De- cember 2. Dates of departure : Ellesmere Land, Lincoln Bay, Sep- tember 1 ; : Wellington Channel, ' September 15 ; Boothia Felix, Sep- tember 21 ; Alaska, Point Barrow, September 25 to October 10. Casual records. — Has occurred twice in British Columbia (Dease Lake, Cassiar, September, 1899, and Penticton, Okanagan Lake, Oc- tober, 1897). ' Bare or accidental in Ontario (Toronto, December 25, 1887). 36 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. RISSA TRIDACTYLA TRIDACTYLA (Linnaeu«). KITTIWAKE. HABITS. The hardy kittiwake has been well named, on the New England coast, the " frost gull " or the " winter gull," for its arrival seems to indicate the coming of hard frosts and the beginning of real winter. It seems to bring with it the first cold breath of ice and snow from the rugged Arctic coasts where it makes its summer home. This species is always associated in my mind with icebergs and the great Greenland ice packs, which drift southward with the Arctic current, and in its summer home, with the dark, frowning cliffs of the frozen north, which tower for hundreds of feet above the stormy ice-bound seas until lost to sight in shrouds of mist and fog, where the " frost gulls " find a safe retreat in which to rear their hardy offspring. Spring. — According to Hagerup (1891) the kitti wakes arrive in Greenland early in April: From their arrival till the middle of May they keep together in one or more large flocks, and are then very timid and noisy. This is, perhaps, because the fjord is to a great extent covered with ice, so that their nesting ground lies 8 to 10 miles from open water. On clear days in April a flock of some 2,000 may be seen rising to a great height, say 3,000 and to 4,000 feet, sometimes going out of sight, so that one can only hear their screeching as they rapidly wheel about. They are then wont to make an excursion inland, above the ice, toward their breeding place. On returning they descend somewhat more scattered ; but at once, on reaching the water, they gather close together. These exercises they often go through many times a day. In May they assemble in smaller flocks and are less shy. About 2,000 lay their eggs on the front of a perpendicular cliff situated at the head of the fjord. The lowest nests may easily be reached from a boat ; the highest are about 150 feet above the sea. The eggs are laid chiefly during the first 10 days of June, and the young fly from their nests about the middle of August. (The earliest date on which I have seen a young bird is the 7th of August.) After that they generally go about in small flocks or singly and keep comparatively silent. On a few occasions only, on August afternoons, I have seen large flocks of 500 to 1,000 individuals rise to a great height and fly toward the ocean. Courtship. — Mr. Edmund Selous (1905) says, in referring to the courtship of the kittiwake, that the inside of the mouth is of " a fine rich red, or orange red color," and that " both sexes open their bills widely and crane about, with their heads turned toward each other, whilst at the same time uttering their shrieking, clamorous cry. The motion, however, is often continued after the cry has ceased, and this we might expect if the birds took any pleasure in the bril- liant gleam of color which each presents to and, as it were, flashes about in front of the other." U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 113 PL. 7 Bird Rock, Quebec. A. C. Bent. KlTTIWAKE. For description see paqe 329. LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TERNS. 37 Mr. W. Elmer Ekblaw, in his Greenland notes, says : About June 10 the kittiwake begins mating. The rivalry for mates and nests is keen, and the struggles over the nests are bitter and prolonged. I watched two birds fight for a nest for over an hour. When one alighted upon the nest he turned at once with open bill and angry scream to meet the rival which he expected to attack him at once. Usually the other claimant for the nest was quick in his attempt to eject the first. With bills locked like the jaws of fighting bull terriers, they wrestled with each other, shaking and tugging and pulling fiercely until they fell off the ledge and fluttered to the ice still in death grip. Once on the ice they soon ceased their combat, and separated, both angrily screaming. The contest was many times repeated. Nesting. — The kittiwake is decidedly an oceanic gull, being seldom seen inland, except as a wanderer on migrations, and breeding on the rocky cliffs and crags of our Arctic coasts exposed to all the fury of ocean storms in which it seems to delight. On the Greenland coast most of the large breeding colonies are on the high cliffs near the heads of deep fjords, but farther south the preference seems to be for lofty rocky islands. My first intimate study of the nesting habits of the Atlantic kitti- wake was made on the famous Bird Rocks, in the Gulf of St. Law- rence, in 1904, one of the southernmost outposts of its breeding range. We landed here in a small boat, late in the evening of June 23, under rather exciting circumstances. As the great cliffs towered above us in the moonlight we saw a lantern coming down the ladder to show us where to land and we ran in among the breakers. There was a crash which brought us to our feet as we struck an unseen rock ; but the next wave carried us over it and landed us among the rocks and flying spray. We were overboard in an instant, struggling in the surf up to our waists, for the boat was rapidly filling, as wave after wave broke over us. A few moments of rapid work served to unload our baggage and attach a stout line to the boat, the signal was passed aloft and the powerful steam winch above landed her high and dry. After exchanging hearty greetings with our genial host, Captain Bourque, we enjoyed the novel experience of being hoisted up in a crate to the top of the cliff, over 100 feet high. It was certainly a new and interesting sensation to feel ourselves slowly rising in the darkness up the face of these somber cliffs, with the surf thundering on the rocks below us and with a cloud of screaming seabirds hover- ing about us, barely discernible in the moonlight, like a swarm of ghostly bats whose slumber had been disturbed and who were pro- testing at our rude intrusion. On the following day the wind was blowing a gale and clouds of sea birds were drifting about the rock in a bewildering maze, 10,000 of them in all. There were great white gannets sailing on long pow- erful wings, tipped with black ; clouds of snowy kittiwakes hovering 38 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. in the air; hundreds of swift- winged murres and razor-billed auks darting out f rbm the cliffs ; and quaint little parties of curious puffins perched on the rocks. There was a constant babel of voices, the mingled cries of the varied throngs ; deep, guttural croaks and hoarse, grunts from the gannets; a variety of soft purring notes from tht murres; and sharp, piercing cries from the active kittiwakes dis- tinctly pronouncing the three syllables for which they are named, as if beseeching us to " keep away " from their precious nests. For a more intimate study of their nesting habits we were lowered down the face of the cliff in a crate, dangling at the end of a long rope and whirling helplessly about in space^ but within a few feet of the confiding, gentle birds on their nests. They were so ac- customed to the intimacy of man that it was an easy matter to study and photograph the dainty creatures at short range. Their nests were scattered all over the perpendicular face of the cliff, on every available little shelf. I was surprised to see how small and narrow a ledge could support a nest in safety. The nests were firmly and well built of seaweeds, grasses, and mosses, and were securely plastered on to the rock ; apparently they were made of wet seaweed which adhered firmly to the rock as it dried; evi- dently the nests had been used for successive seasons, fresh material being added each year. They were deeply cupped and well built up on the outer sides, so as to form safe cradles for the young. Incu- bation was far advanced at this date (June 24), and many of the eggs had hatched. The nests must, indeed, be well built to hold the weight of two lusty young and the brooding parent in such pre : carious situations. Mr. Ora W. Knight (1908) gives the dimen- sions of a nest found on Baccalieu Island,. Newfoundland. " Its diameter at base was 1 foot, and at top 8 inches; interior diameter, 6 inches ; and depth, 2 inches." Eggs. — The kittiwake is said to lay as many as four or five eggs, but I beheve that two is the usual number ; that three eggs, are rarely laid; and that larger numbers are very unusual. I am quite sure that more than 90 per cent of the nests that I have seen have held only two eggs. Often only a single egg is hatched. The. eggs vary in shape from somewhat pointed ovate to short ovate, rarely elongate ovate; the shell is thin and smooth, but without much lustre. The ground color varies from "pinkish buff" or "olive buff " to " cartridge buff," " pale olive buff," or bluish white. The spots are irregular in arrangement, size, and shape ; most eggs have underlying spots or blotches of "light Quaker drab" or "light mouse gray " ; these are either overlaid or mixed with darker spots, blotches, or scrawls of " clay color," " snuff brown," " tawny olive," "Vandyke brown," or "sepia" of various shades. The measure-, ments of 41 eggs in various collections average 56.1 by 40.8 milli- U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 113 PL. ^steii ^-^Mk. -" « Bra' ■v.mjHL - JEM t -" ■nrwr in ,, - , i'-f'*s«y ML ' ^SDH \ , B| B * h .j * ^^HEl B - % .-V - - .JB MBKSb. i-^^^y ' ''' '■■■^'■\---—^-"''t_^^-f/^m ■ .i '}ff* M r': ** i 1 i &*"JM • *• v -'" L.u, v. Bird Rock, Quebec. Bird Rock, Quebec. KlTTIWAKE. For description see page 330 A. C. Bent. LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TERNS. 39 meters ; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 62.5 by 42.5, 58 by 43.5, 53 by 39 and 55 by 37.5 millimeters. Toung.^-The period of incubation is said to be 26 days. Probably both sexes incubate, as both parents are usually together at the nest and both are devoted to the young. The young remain in the nest, where they are fed by their parents, until they are fully fledged. The narrow confines of the usual nest, on its small shelf of rock, per- mit no wandering habits, as common among other gulls. Any attempt to stray from the nest would usually result in a disastrous fall from a dizzy height to dangerous rocks or surf below; so the young birds must of necessity stay in . the nest until able to fly. Many such fatal accidents probably occur,, which serve to keep in check the : increase of the species, which ■, is otherwise secure from molestation on its nesting grounds. : On North Bird Rock, where many of the, nests are on the lower ledges, I noticed on July 24, 1915, that many of the nearly fledged young had been able to crawl or jump out of the nests and were wandering: about over the flat rocks below the cliffs, though they were not able to fly. Many of the older young were already on the wing at this date and a few were still in the nests. Plumages. — The newly hatched young is covered with long, soft, glossy down, which is white and spotless, but tinged basally with yellowish gray and buffy on the back and thighs, and tipped with dusky, giving it a grizzly appearance, quite unlike other young gulls. The young bird grows rapidly and soon begins to assume the first winter plumage, which appears first on the scapulars, then on the wings, backj and neck. There is no strictly juvenal plumage in this species. In the first winter plumage the bill is black; there is a blackish patch on the hind neck; the lesser wing-coverts and some- times the greater wing-coverts and scapulars are largely black; the tail has a broad black band at the tip ; the dusky spots on the head, before and behind the eye, are darker than in adults. A partial molt occurs early in the spring, usually in February and March, but sometimes as early as December, in which most of the dusky feathers in the head are replaced by white or lighter colored feathers and the black lesser wing-coverts disappear. At the first postnuptial molt in August young birds become indistinguishable from adults when one year old, a complete molt producing the adult winter plumage. A partial prenuptial molt, involving the head, neck, and body feathers, produces the adult nuptial plumage with the pure white head and yellow bill. Adults have a complete molt in the summer, producing the well-known winter plumage, Food. — A flock of feeding kittiwakes is an animated and a pretty sight. During the latter part of the summer they assemble in enor- mous numbers in the numerous bays and "tickles " of the Labrador * 174785—21 i 40 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. coast, and congregate about the fishing vessels to pick up the scraps that are thrown overboard. A school of small fry, swimming near the surface, soon attracts an interested throng of these little gulls which hover over them and scream excitedly as they gently swoop down with elevated wings to pick the small fish from the surface without wetting a feather. Although small fishes procured in this way constitute the principal food of the kittiwake, it also eats crus- taceans, aquatie larvae, and other marine animals which it gleans from the water. It feeds to some extent along the beaches and on the bare sand flats at low tide, where it finds various small mollusks, crustaceans, and other marine invertebrates. Often large flocks are seen feeding in the flats. It is less of a scavenger than the larger gulls and less given to frequenting the inner harbors. It is said to drink salt water exclusively, being seldom seen inland. Mr. Brew- ster (1883) reports a captive kittiwake that refused fresh water and drank salt water eagerly. Behavior.^- The flight of the kittiwake is buoyant, graceful} and easy. Audubon (1840) describes its movements, in his usual graphic style, as follows : Bearing up against the heaviest gale, it passes from one trough of the sea to another as if anxious to rest for an instant under the lee of the billows ; yet as these are seen to rear their curling crests, the gull is already several feet above them and preparing to plunge into the next hollow. While in our harbor, and during fine weather, they seemed to play with their companions of other species. Now with a spiral curve they descend toward the water, support themselves by beats of their wings, decline their heads, and pick up a young herring or some bit of garbage, when away they fly, chased perhaps by several others anxious to rob them of the prize. Noon has arrived. High above the masthead of our largest man-of-war the kittiwakes float gracefully in wide circles until all, as if fatigued, sail downward again with common accord toward the, transparent deep, and, alighting close to each other, seem to ride safely at anchor. There they now occupy themselves in cleaning and arranging their beautiful plumage. It flies more swiftly than the larger gulls and with more rapid wing beats.. It can be readily recognized by the flight, even at a long distance, by one who is familiar with it. Dr. Charles W. Townsend writes to me : Although the flight of the kittiwake is characteristically graceful, rapid, and swallow like, with quick wing strokes, I have seen them get up from the sur- face of the water just in time to clear the bow of the advancing steamer and fly off with slow and heavy wing beats, as if loath to leave a good fishing ground. In the adult the black wing tips are short and cut squarely across, as if the wings were dipped in black. In the immature plumage it most closely resembles the young Bonaparte's gull, but the black nuchal crescent and the black wing coverts are conspicuous, and there is more black on the primaries, in which the color pattern is also different. The ordinary cry of the kittiwake suggests its name, which it seems to pronounce quite distinctly. This is the soft and mellow note LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TERNS. 41 most often heard about its breeding grounds, but when much excited or alarmed, it indulges in loud, shrill, piercing screams, as it darts down upon the intruder. When hovering in large flocks over a school of fish or other tempting feast it becomes very noisy, uttering loud, harsh cries, somewhat resembling the notes of the gull-billed tern. Doctor Townsend adds the following notes: Besides the cry, which recalls its name Kit-ti^walce, I have noted down the syllables Ka-ake; sharp and piercing Ki, Ki, Ki; rapidly repeated and harsh rattling Kaa, Kaa, Kae, Kae, and Kaak Kaak. The gentle kittiwake is a highly gregarious and sociable species. Among the various sea birds, with which it is intimately associated on its breeding grounds, it is a harmless and a friendly neighbor. It does not seem to molest the eggs or young of the other species at all and it has no enemies among them. At other seasons it is often persecuted by the jaegers, the relentless pursuers of all the smaller gulls, and terns, the highway robbers of the northern seas. The worst enemy of the kittiwake is man. In winter, when these. gulls are abundant on the New England coast, they are shot in large numbers. They are tame and unsuspicious, gathering, like terns, in large flocks over a fallen companion, making it easy for the gunner to kill as many as he chooses. They may easily be attracted about the fisherman's boat by throwing overboard cod livers or other refuse, where they are easily shot and may often be caught on a baited hook. Their bodies are used for food or for bait and their plumage is, or was, sold for millinery purposes ; but often they are killed in purely wanton sport. Macgillivray (1852) says of the way these birds have been killed on the British coast : Parties are formed on our eastern coast for the sole purpose of shooting them ; and I have seen a person station himself on the top of the kittiwake cliff of the Isle of May, and shoot incessantly for several hours, without so much as afterwards picking up a single individual of the many killed and maimed birds with which the smooth water was strewn heneath. Fall. — The fall migration starts early; that is, the birds move away from their breeding grounds early and begin to work down the coast in August and September. Dr. Charles W. Townsend (1907) saw about 5,000 kittiwakes at the mouth of Hamilton Inlet, Labrador, on July 18, 1906. He describes their behavior as follows : At Hamilton Inlet thousands of kittiwakes covered the water, and as we steamed on they rose in bodies of 500 or more and whirled about like gusts of snow driven by the wind, their pure white plumage lit up by the rays of the setting sun. Silent for the most part, they occasionally emitted cries of kae kae, or ka-ake, and at times one could imagine the syllables of kittiwake. On our return trip we ran into a flock of nearly the same size near Cape Harrison. The appearance of a snowstorm here was more perfect, for there was a thick fog bank, on the edge of which the kittiwakes played. The sun shining on the birds before the fog shut them out was very striking. They were occa- 42 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. sionally plunging for capelins, at times disappearing entirely under water with a splash. One could often be seen flying with a fish hanging by one end from its bill. A jaeger suddenly appeared on the scene, and the twisting and turning of pursuer and pursued was interesting to see. The kittiwake finally dropped his prey, and the jaeger settled on the water to pick it up. On my way south along the Labrador coast on August 21, 1912, I saw large numbers of old and young kittiwakes near Makkovik and Bagged Islands, far south of their breeding grounds. Mr. Lucien M. Turner says of their habits on the Labrador coast : Scores and hundreds of the kittiwake gull were observed on the Labrador coast in the early part of July, 1882. They were most numerous in the Arctic current bearing icebergs,, on which these birds at times assembled in thou- sands as the mass of ice towered at times over 200 feet high and presented an area of over half a mile square on tha top of it. Here the birds sat com- pactly, slowly moving to the southward; they, probably congregated during these times after having gorged themselves with capelins and Y lance fishes to allow the process of digestion to be completed. A -single rifle shot reverberating against the wall of ice or a ball projected in the midst of these birds was sufficient to startle the entire community into flight, and upon which they would lazily ' circle round and round the vessel or away back and forth across her wake, always at a provoking distance, until one would be dropped while on wing with a rifle ball. The living birds wheeled over their dead companion in angry curiosity as they clamored their rattling cry. Winter. — The kittiwake does not become common on the Massa- chusetts coast until about the middle of October, after which it is common off our coasts all winter, where it is known as the " winter gull," " frost gull," or " pinny owl." Dr. Charles W. Townsend (1905) says of its winter habits : The kittiwake is an offshore gull, one that is to be found especially about fishing vessels in winter, gleaning the waves for the refuse which is always to be found in the neighborhood of these boats. In my notes of a trip to Nova Scotia from Boston, in December, 1883, I have entered that they were very abundant everywhere off the coast. Off Rockport in winter, kittiwakes begin to be common 2 or 3 miles from land, and are generally abundant on the fishing grounds, 8 or 10 miles out. They may, however, be frequently seen from the shore, especially if the day be stormy and the shore an open one. They often visit the little harbor of Rockport with its wealth of fish gurry. They also fly occasionally over the beaches, and under these circumstances I have had no difficulty in shooting them for specimens, as, unlike the herring gull, they do not hesitate to fly within gunshot. I have never seen them in the tidal estuaries. Mr. Walter H. Eich has sent me the following notes on the be- havior of the kittiwake or " winter bird," as it is called, on Georges Banks: As might be guessed from the name, it is during the coldest weather that this bird is most abundant, and at this season, so the writer was informed, not infrequently they became so tame as to perch in rows upon the main booms of the vessels on frosty mornings, awaiting their breakfasts. LIFE HISTORIES OP NORTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TERNS. 43 The first arrivals (five birds) appeared on the morning of October 12, 1913. Every day following their arrival showed increasing numbers until in a fortnight there were always " hundreds," and at times " thousands " would make but a moderate estimate of their flocks. My records for November 16 says, " winter birds in millions "—perhaps an exaggeration, yet so it seemed. Scarcely a daylight hour after their arrival but was filled with their chatter- ing squeal; scarcely a moment but saw them wheeling about the steamers, appearing just before sun up and standing by to give any needed assistance as long as the sun held above the western rim of the ocean. The signal for hauling the net brought great activity among the flocks banked up on either side of the steamer's path in 2J-mile-long lines of white birds roosting upon the water. There were literally thousands of gulls that rose and drifted along over the swells, just keeping pace with the steamer's slow progress. Other gulls there were, both brown plumaged and full plumaged — ring-bill, herring gull, black-backed, and a few of the large white or pearly gulls, of species undetermined where they wheeled in a safe offing. But all these were at a disadvantage, both numerically and otherwise, with the kittiwakes, who stole from them and beat them to every piece of liver and waste thrown overside. If the prize sinks the big gull has lost it ; not so the little " winter bird," who dives swiftly and gracefully from the wing and brings it up. This is the only gull which the writer has ever seen to dive. Naturally their success makes them unpopular with the losers, who pursue and harry the kittiwake, but to little effect, since the small gull is too active to suffer much in these attempts at reprisal. In fair weather during midday the gulls of all species soar far aloft to wheel in wide circles and drift in the sunshine of the upper air. The " winter bird " indulges in this also, but to a somewhat lesser extent than do the gulls of other species. The greater part of the kittiwake flocks prefer to bank up along the steamer's course, so as to be at hand at the haul, utilizing the interval to preen their feathers and bathe and dip like sparows in a puddle. In fact, it was a considerable time before I could be sure that the kittiwake joined in these lofty aerial maneuvers ; yet they surely did, sweeping on motionless wings in great spirals at a height where the eye could hardly follow them or distinguish them, but never failing to drop with all swiftness when warned by the whistle that the feast was about to be spread for them. What an enormous amount of food must be needed to support all this great sea-bird population — the hags and petrels in the summer months, the gulls in the colder weather, the full round of the year. DISTRIBUTION. Breeding range. — Northern parts of the Northern Hemisphere ; in North America east to Greenland and the Labrador coast. South to the Gulf of St. Lawrence (Newfoundland, Bird Eock, Bonaventure Island, and Anticosti) and probably parts of Hudson Bay. The western limit of its range r where the subspecies pollicaris takes its place, is unknown, but it has been stated to occur west to Franklin Bay. North to Prince Albert Land (near Princess Eoyal Islands) ; the south shore of North Somerset; north of Wellington Channel (latitude 77°), and northern Greenland (Thank God Harbor on the northwestern coast, and between latitude 80° and 81° on the north- eastern coast). In the Old World breeds from Iceland, Great Brit- 44 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. ain (Shetland and Orkney Islands, Hebrides, coast of Ireland and England, except southern parts) ; Spitzbergen, probably Franz Josef Land, Nova Zembla and coast of western Siberia (said by Koren to range east to Chaun Bay, northern Siberia. South to northwestern France. Breeding grounds protected in the Canadian reservations on Bird Rock, Bonaventure Island, and Perce Rock. Winter range. — Offshore from Gulf of St. Lawrence (Prince Ed- ward Island), Nova Scotia (Halifax), New Brunswick (Grand Manan), and coast of Maine; occasionally on the Great Lakes; south to New Jersey and the Bermudas, and even farther south (latitude 25° 57' N., east of Miami). In Europe winters from the coasts of Great Britain south to the Mediterranean and Caspian Seas, the Canary Islands, and Azores. Spring, migration. — Return from ocean wandering to its breeding grounds. Early dates of arrival : Prince Edward Island, March 15 (average March 26) ; Quebec, Godbout. March 25 (average April 6) ; Greenland, Ivigtuk, March 26; Dover Strait, May 20; and Cape York, June. 10., Late dates of departure: Bermuda, April 4; New York, Orleans County, April 10 ; Connecticut, New Haven, April 13. Fall migration. — Offshore and southward. Early dates of arrival : Massachusetts, October 2 (average November 6) ; Long Island, Octo- ber 13; Pennsylvania, Erie, October 17. Late dates of departure: Northeastern Greenland, latitude 75° 20', August 1; Ellesmere Land, Lincoln Bay, September 1 ; Wellington Channel, September 2 ; Fro- bischer Bay, September 2; Cumberland Gulf, September 19; New- foundland, October 17. Casual records. — Wanders occasionally to various points in the interior; to the Great Lakes frequently, as far west as Michigan (Neebish Island, fall 1893-94) and Wisconsin (Racine, March 17, 1884) ; up the Mackenzie Valley (Fort Resolution, May 23, 1860) : west in the interior to Wyoming (Douglas, November 18, 1898). Egg dates. — Great Britain: Thirty-one records, April 6 to Juiie 27 ; sixteen records, June. 4 to 12. Newfoundland : Ten records, May 30 to July 1 ; five records, June 14 to 20. Gulf of St. Lawrence : Ten records, June 10 to 26 ; five records, June 13 to 25. RISSA TRIDACTYLA POLLICARIS Rideway. PACIFIC KITTIWAKE. HABITS. The Pacific form of the well-known Mttiwake differs from its eastern relative in having a larger hind toe and more extensive black tips on the primaries, but its habits are practically the same and its life history is similar. The two subspecies together ocdupy a wide LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TERNS. 45 range throughout the northern part of the northern hemisphere, giving the species a circumpolar distribution. Spring. — The spring migration is early, reaching Bering Island, in the Commander group, according to Stejneger (1885), about the 1st of April. In Bering Sea the migration is delayed until the breaking up of the ice. Nelson (1887) says : At St. Michaels each year they arrive from the 10th to the 18th of May, and were first seen searching for food in the narrow water channels in the tide cracks along shore. As the open spaces appeared they congregated there until in early June, when the ice broke up and moved offshore. At this time the kittiwakes sought the rugged cliffs along the shore of the mainland or the precipitous islands dotting Bering Sea and the adjoining Arctic. Courtship.— Very little seems to be known about the courtship or mating performances of this bird, but Mr. H. W. Elliott (1875) says that "the male treads the female on the nest, and nowhere else, making a loud shrill, screaming sound during the ceremony." Nesting. — We saw plenty of kittiwakes near the eastern end of the Aleutian Islands, where they were probably breeding in the vicinity of Akutan Island. West of Unalaska we saw very few birds and no signs of breeding colonies. Doctor Stejneger (1885) found them breeding in " astonishing numbers " at certain places in the Commander Islands, at the western end of the chain, where they choose "steep walls, rising perpendicularly out of the deep sea, and especially high pinnacles standing lonely amidst the foaming breakers, provided they are fitted out with shelves and projections upon which to place the nests." Dr. W. H. Dall (1873) gives us the following good account of a breeding colony in the Shumagin Islands, south of the Alaska Peninsula : On entering Ooal Harbor, Unga, we were at once struck with the peculiar white line which wound around the precipitous cliffs of Round Island, and was seen to be caused by the presence of birds ; and as soon as an opportunity was afforded I took a boat and went to the locality to examine it. The nests, in their position, were unlike anything I had ever seen before. At first it ap- peared as if they were fastened to the perpendicular face of the rock, but on a close examination it appeared that two parallel strata of the metamorphic sandstone of the cliffs, being harder than the rest, had weathered out, stand- ing out from the face of the cliff from 1 to 4 inches, more or less irregularly. The nests were built where these broken ledges afforded a partial support, though extending over more than half their width. The lines of nests exactly followed the winding projections of these ledges, everywhere giving a very sin- gular appearance to the cliff, especially when the white birds were sitting on them. The nests were built with dry grass, agglutinated together and to the rock in some unexplained manner; perhaps by a mucus secreted by the bird for the purpose. The nests had a very shallow depression at the top in which lay two eggs. The whole establishment had an intolerable odor of guano, and the nests were very filthy. The birds hardly moved ,at our approach ; only those within, a few yards leaving their posts. I reached up and took down two nests, one containing two young birds, and the other empty. Wind coming up, 46 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. we were obliged to pull away, and the bird, which came back, lighted on the rock where her nest and young had been with evident astonishment at the mysterious disappearance. Alter flying about a little she again settled on the spot, and, suddenly making up her mind that foul play on the part of some other bird had taken place, she commenced a furious assault on her nearest neighbor. As we pulled away the little fellows began to be effected by the motion of the boat, and with the most ludicrous expression of nausea, imitat- ing as closely as a bird could do the motions and expression of a seasick person, ■they very soon deposited their dinner on the edge of the nest. It was composed of small fishes or minnows, too much disorganized to be identified. Eggs, in a moderately fresh condition, were obtained about the same time, but most of them were far advanced toward hatching. In Bering Sea we found this to be one of the commonest gulls and found it breeding on all of the islands where it could find high, rocky cliffs. On Walrus Island, where there are no high cliffs, we had an unusually good opportunity to examine the nests. Among the hosts of sea birds which made their summer home on this won- derful island a few little parties^ of from four to six pairs each, of Pacific kittiwakes found a scanty foothold on the vertical faces of the low, rocky cliffs. Here their nests were skillfully placed on the narrow ledges or on little protuberances which seemed hardly wide enough to hold them, and often they were within a few feet of nesting California murres or red-faced cormorants, with which the island was overcrowded. The nests were well made of soft green grass and bits of sod securely plastered onto the rocks and probably were repaired and used again year after year. They were well rounded, deeply cupped on top, and lined with fine dry grass. Most of the nests, on July 7, contained. two eggs, some only one, but none of them held young. The incubating birds and their mates standing near their nests were very gentle and tame. We had no difficulty, in getting near enough to photograph them. Eggs. — The eggs of the Pacific kittiwakes are practically indis- tinguishable from those of the Atlantic kittiwake, though they will average a trifle larger and a trifle more pointed. The ground color seems to run more to the lighter shades, from " tilleul buff " or " olive buff" to "cartridge buff" or " pale olive buff." Many sets show very pale shades of " glaucous green " or even greenish or, bluish white. The markings are about the same as in the Atlantic bird, but average lighter with a larger proportion of the drab or gray spots. The measurements of 40 eggs in the United States National Museum and the writer's collections average 58.4 by 41.3 milli- meters, the eggs showing the four extreme measure 63 by 43.5, 55.5 by 41.5 and 58.5 by 37.5 millimeters. Young. — The young remain in the nests and are fed by their parents until they are able to fly. Both old and young birds spend much of their time on their breeding grounds and frequent their old U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 113 PL. 9 Walrus Island. Alaska. A. C. Bent. 5#ijgBry~ftm',iwi ■ ■^■y\*3 ^ffl • a9?^|b im rV; • Wf&: BaS^ wm : Bbk- JmM. ;i ?.-«. ,-i Ljjj ? ^B ' v"!?^**^ 1L. '" H || | |Sft 19 v&&'^ ^ §1! |BBt; afifl HProS m-^ Walrus Island, Alaska. Pacific Kittiwake. For description see page 330 A. C. Bent. LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TERNS. 47 nests until ready to migrate in September. The description of the downy young and the sequences of molts and plumages, already given for the Atlantic kittiwake, will do equally well for the Pacific subspecies. I can find no essential points of difference. Food. — Nelson (1887) says of their feeding habits: From the end of August they frequent the inner bays and mouths of small streams, and are often seen In large parties feeding upon the myriads of stickle backs which are found along the coast at this season. They pursue their prey in the same graceful manner as the terns, by hovering over the water and plunging down head foremost. In the bay at St. Michaels they were frequently seen following a school of white whales, evidently to secure such fragments of fish or other food as the whales dropped in the water. It was curious to note how well the birds timed the whale and anticipated their appearance as the latter came up to blow. Along the beach at Nome we saw kittiwakes almost constantly where they seemed to be picking up bits of garbage. Mr. A. W. An- thony (1906) saw them in winter at Puget Sound, associated with other gulls about the garbage heaps. Behavior. — Dr. E. W. Nelson (1883) pays the following tribute to the flight powers of this kittiwake: During our cruising in the summer of 1881 1' had repeated occasions to notice the graceful motions and powers of flight possessed by this handsome gull. Its buoyancy during the worst gales we met was fully equal to that possessed by the Rodger's fulmar, with which it frequently associated at these times. These birds were continually gliding back and forth in graceful curves, now passing directly into the face of the gale, then darting off to one side on a long circuit, always moving steadily, with only an occasional stroke of the wings for long periods if there was a strong wind. Mr. William Palmer (1890) also shows his admiration of it in the following Words : Viewed from the cliffs the flight of these birds is remarkably graceful, and especially so when they have been disturbed from a midday siesta. I thus disturbed several dozen one day and carefully watched them as they passed and repassed the spot where I sat on the edge of the cliff. They were all within 20 yards and continually paraded parallel with the cliff, all the while intently watching me. They would pass by for some 30 to 40 yards, then turn and fly an equal distance on the other side before again making a turn. Usually the whole distance was accomplished by sailing, and often the turns and several lengths were traveled in the same way. Thus, selecting an indi- vidual and keeping my eyes on him I often counted from two to three trips without a flap of the wing. One individual thus noted made the trip seven times without once changing his wings from their rigid outstretched position. The length of his parade was fully 50 yards and he sailed in an almost straight line, and rarely varied his level, being about as high above the sea as I was on the cliff. Not a movement of the air was perceptible to my senses. He was often so close that as he passed I could distinctly see the movement of his eye as he slightly turned his head to view me. Several times the fly lines of two birds -. would cross at about the same level, but rarely would one flap to gain impetus enough to get rapidly out of the way. It was more often 48 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. accomplished by a quiver of the wings on the part of one of the two, a slight rise as the other passed beneath, and then a similar descent, and the- con- tinuation of the journey without any distinct napping whatever. They thus sailed in plain view, as long as I remained on the rocks, probably 30 minutes. Winter. — These hardy birds of Arctic seas seem quite at home among the drifting ice and snowstorms, and it is not until their sum- mer feeding grounds become permanently closed with winter ice, in October, that they are forced southward to spend the winter months in the Aleutian Islands, along the Alaska coast, and south to Puget Sound, or even California. Here they associate freely with the other common gulls on the coast or spend their time offshore. They are so much more pelagic in their habits than other gulls that they seem much less abundant than they really are. DISTRIBUTION. < Breeding range.— 'Coasts and islands of the North Pacific, Bering Sea, and the adjacent Arctic Ocean. East to Cape Lisburne and other suitable parts of the western Alaskan coast. South to Seldovia, Alaska, the Shumagin, Aleutian, Commander, and Kurile Islands. West along the coast of Kamchatka and northeastern Siberia to the Koliutschin Islands. Occurs in summer, but has not been found breeding on the coast of southern Alaska (Yakutat and Sitka) at Point Barrow and on the Siberian coast from Koliutschin Islands to Chaun Bay. Breeding grounds protected in the following national reservations in Alaska : Aleutian Islands (as Kiska, Near Islands, Unga, Unimak Pass) , Pribilofs, St. George Island. Winter range. — From southeastern Alaska (Sitka) and perhaps from the Aleutians, south along the coast of British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, and California to northern Lower California (San Geronimo Island). On the Asiatic side south to the Kurile Islands and Japan (Yezo and Tokyo). Spring migration. — A return from ocean wandering to its breed- ing grounds. Early dates of arrival : Commander Islands, Bering Island, April 1; Pribilof Islands, St. Paul, April 20; Alaska, St. Michael, May 6, and Point Barrow, June 2. Late dates of departure : Lower California, San Geronimo Island, March 17; California, Point Pinos, April 25 ; Washington, Port Townsend, May 19 ; British Columbia, May 24. Fall migration. — Mainly eastward and southward off the coasts, beginning in July and reaching British Columbia in September. Average date of arrival at Point Pinos is November 14, earliest November 5. Late dates of departure : Alaska, Point Barrow, August 31, and St. Michael about October 15; Pribilof Islands, St. Paul, October 12 ; Siberia, Koliutschin Island, September 22. U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 113 PL. 10 St. George Island, Alaska. C. H. Townsend. Red-Legged Kittiwake. For description see page 330. LIFE HISTOBIES OF NORTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TEENS. 49 Egg dates. — Pribilof Islands: Thirteen records, June 10 to July 7; seven records, June 25 to July 3. Northern Bering Sea : Nine rec- ords, June 10 to July 20 ; five records, June 20 to July 6. RISSA BREVIROSTRIS (Bruch). BED-LEGGED KITTIWAKE, HABITS. This is one of the species which I expected to find breeding abundantly among the Aleutian Islands, but I was disappointed to find that it was far from common about any of the islands that were visited. As we passed Akutan Island on the way to Unalaska I saw a large number of kittiwakes hovering about the rocky cliffs at a distance. I supposed that they were of this species, which is recorded as breeding on this island, but I was unable to stop and did not go near enough to identify them. I saw several about the Pribilof Islands, but only one specimen was taken. I did not find it on Walrus Island, where it is said to breed. Nesting. — Mr. Henry W. Elliott (1880), to whom we are indebted for practically all that we know about the habits of the red-legged kittiwake, says that it arrives on the fur-seal islands, for the purpose of breeding, about the 9th of May and of its nesting habits he writes : It Is much more prudent and cautious than the auks and the murres, for Its nests are always placed on nearly inaccessible shelves and points of mural walls, so that seldom can one be reached unless a person is lowered down to it by a rope passed over the cljff. Nest building is commenced early in May, and completed, generally, not much before the 1st of July. It uses dry grass and moss cemented with mud, which it gathers at the fresh-water pools and ponds scattered over the islands. The nest is solidly and neatly put up ; the parents work together in its construction most diligenty and amiably. Two eggs are the usual number, although occasionally three will be found in the nest. If these eggs are removed, the female will renew them like the " arrie " in the course of another week or 10 days. Dr. L. Stejneger (1885) found the red-legged kittiwake breed- ing abundantly in the Commander Islands, and says: Like its black-legged cousin, it only selects steep and inaccessible rocks, and in none of its habits at the breeding place could I detect any marked differ- ence. They also arrive at the islands about the same time, hatching their young simultaneously with the other species. The two species usually keep apart from each other. In the great rookery at Kikij Mys only one solitary red-legged bird was seen among the thousands and thousands of black feet, while a still greater colony at Gavaruschkaja Buchta consisted of red legs exclusively.. On Copper Island, however, I found the two species breeding to- gether on the same rocky wall : — the black feet always higher up than the pres- ent'species. The'two kinds were easily distinguished when sitting on the nests, brevirostris having the gray of the mantle of a perceptibly darker shade than potticaris. 50 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. . Eggs.— The set usually consists of two eggs, rarely three, and often only one. The eggs are usually about ovate in shape, and in a gen- eral way resemble those of the common kittiwake, though they aver- age lighter in color and are somewhat less heavily spotted. The ground color is bluish white, buffy white, creamy white, or even pure white. The markings consist of spots, blotches, or scrawls scat- tered irregularly over the egg or occasionally concentrated in a mass at the larger end or in a ring around it. These markings are in various shades of drab, lavender, or lilac, overlaid with various shades of brown, mostly the lighter shades, but sometimes as dark as " bister " or " sepia." The measurements of 43 eggs, in various collections, average 55.8 Iby 40.9 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 66.5 by 45 and 50 by 37 millimeters. Young,— Mr. Elliott (1880) says: Both parents assist in the labor of incubation, which lasts a trifle longer than the usual time-^-from 24 to 26 days. The chick comes out with a pure white downy coat, a pale whitish-gray bill and feet, and rests helplessly in the nest until its feathers grow. During this period it is a comical-looking object. The natives capture them now and then to make pets of, always having a number every year scattered through the village, usually tied by one leg to a stake at the doors of their houses, where they become very tame ; and it is not until fall, when cold weather sets in, that they become restless and willingly leave their captivity for the freedom of the air. Plumages. — The downy young are not distinguishable from those of the Pacific kittiwake, being covered with white down without spots. So far as I have been able to learn from the available mate- rial the molts and plumages are similar to those of the common species. There is no juvenal plumage, the young bird going directly from the downy stage into the first winter plumage; in this plumage the young bird has a well-marked, dark, cervical collar, considerable dusky about the eyes, and a mantle variegated with grayish-white tips ; but it has no black on the wing coverts, secondaries, or tail, as in the common kittiwake. These dark markings are usually wholly or partially lost during the first spring, but they are sometimes re- tained through the summer by failure to molt in the spring or by a partial renewal of feathers in sympathy with the first winter plum- age. At the .first postnuptial molt (in August) the adult winter plumage is assumed. Adults have a complete postnuptial molt in August and ap- parently a partial pfehuptial molt early in the spring. Winter adults have the cervix and the auriculars washed with plumbeous. In the adult nuptial plumage this is one of the most beautiful birds in Bering Sea, where we learned to recognize it by the short, yellow bill, bright red feet, dark mantle, and wings. LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TERNS. 51 Behavior. — I can not find any data on the food of the red-legged kittiwake, but probably it does not vary materially from that of closely related species. Mr. William Palmer (1899) writes, concern- ing his impression of this species on the Pribilof Islands: To my mind this is the most beautiful species on the islands. Always grace- ful, whether on the cliffs or flying, its beautiful form and delicate snow-white plumage, with its vermilion feet, adds much to the avifaunal wonders of these islands. Unlike its cousin, which carries its feet extended when flying, this species nearly always buries them in the feathers of its under body, as if fearful of showing their beauty except when absolutely necessary. When fog envelops these islands, both the land and sea, the sea birds away from home find their way by flying along the edges of the bluffs, where the stored heat in the rocks dissipates the rapidly < drifting fog. The wily aleut, knowing these character- istics, ensconces himself behind a rock in a suitable location and with a large dip net intercepts the birds on their way along the bluffs. Thus many a meal is obtained, and, unfortunately, our pretty red-legged kittiwake too often falls a victim. Winter. — When the young birds are fully fledged and able to fly, both old and young birds desert their breeding places on the rocky cliffs, but do not migrate far away. They are resident throughout the year in the vicinity of the Pribilof and Aleutian Islands, and probably spend most of their time at sea during the winter months. DISTRIBUTION. Breeding range. — Islands of Bering Sea (the Pribilof, Near, and Commander Islands) are the only places where this species has been found breeding. It is supposed also to nest at various places in the Aleutians from Akutan Island westward. Breeding grounds protected in the following national reservations in Alaska : Aleutian Islands, as Near Islands, Round Island, Unimak Pass, and Pribilof Islands. Winter range. — Unknown. Probably the open sea not far from its breeding grounds. It has been stated not to winter on the Near and Commander Islands. Elliott says it occurs about the Pribilofs at all seasons. • Spring migration. — Apparently comes to the breeding grounds about May 9. Fall -migration. — Birds leave the Pribilofs as soon as the young can fly, usually early in October, latest November 11. Has been seen near Unalaska Island, October 5. Casual records. — Taken at Forty Mile, Yukon Territory, October 15, 1889 ; St. Michael, Alaska, September 18, 1876 ; Kamchatka (spec- imen, but no date) ; and Wrangel Island (specimen, but no date). Egg> dates. — Pribilof Islands : Three records, July 1, 3, and 10. Kamchatka : Two records, June 12 and 22. 52 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. LARUS HYFERBOBEUS Gunnerus. GLAUCOUS GTTLL. HABITS. The name burgomaster is a fitting name for this chief magistrate of the feathered tribes of the Arctic seas, where it reigns supreme over all the lesser water fowl, levying its toll of food from their eggs and defenseless young. Well they know its strength and dread its power, as it sails majestically aloft over the somber, rocky cliffs of the Greenland coast, where, with myriads of sea fowl, it makes its summer home; and useless is it for them to resist the onslaught of its heavy beak when it swoops down to rob them of their callow young. Only the great skua, the fighting airship of the north, dares to give it battle and to drive the tyrant burgomaster from its chosen crag. Its only rival in size and power among the gulls is the great black-backed gull, and where these twq meet on the Labrador coast they treat each other with dignified respect. Spring. — The glaucous gull is more oceanic in its habits than other large gulls. Though it resorts somewhat to inland lakes and rivers during migrations and in winter, it seems to prefer the cold, bleak, and rugged coasts of northern Labrador, Greenland, and the Arctic islands, whither it resorts in the spring as early as the rigors of the Arctic winter will allow. What few birds winter in southern Hud- son Bay and the region of the Great Lakes, migrate across Ungava and through Hudson Straits to the Atlantic coast; but the -main migration route is northward along the seacoast following the open leads in the ice with the first migration of the eiders. Kumlien (1879) says: This gull is the first bird to arrive (at Cumberland Sound) in the spring. In 1878 they made their appearance in the Kingwah Fjord by the 20th of April. It was still about 70 miles to the floe edge and open water.; still, they seemed to fare well on the young seals. At Ivigtut, Greenland, according to Hagerup (1891), "some, chiefly young birds, remain over winter. An old bird, in complete summer dress, was shot on the 20th of March." In Alaska, also, this species is the earliest migrant to arrive. Turner (1886) observes that they arrive at St. Michael by the middle of April, "sailing high in the air, almost out of sight. Their note, being the first inti- mation of their presence, is always gladly welcomed as a sign that the ice, farther south, is breaking up." Nelson (1887) says: They wander restlessly along the coast until the ponds open on the marshes near the sea, and then, about the last half of May, they are found straying singly or in pairs about the marshy ponds, where they seek their summer homes. Here they are among the noisiest of the wild fowl. U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 113 PL. II Borup Glenn, Greenland. D. B. MacMillan. Sutherland Island, Greenland. Glaucous Gull. FOR DESCRIPTION SEE PAQE 330. D. B. MacMillan. LIFE HISTORIES OF FORTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TERNS. 53 Grinnell (1900) noted their arrival in Kotzebue Sound May 11, 1899, when he " discovered 10 sitting close together out in the middle of the river ice." Winter was still unbroken at this date, and there was no open water in the vicinity " so far as he knew." Nesting. — The southernmost breeding grounds of this species are in Newfoundland. Here in the summer of 1912 I saw them at sev- eral places, where they were probably nesting on the high and inaccessible rocky cliffs of the west coast. Other observers have also reported them from this region. Mr. J. K. Whitaker, of Grand Lake, told me that he had "taken the eggs of this species on an island in Sandy Lake. While investigating a breeding colony of great black- backed gulls on an island in Sandy Lake, on June 23, 1912, I saw a pair of glaucous gulls flying overhead. The young of all the gulls had hatched at that date and were hidden among the rocks and under- brush, so I did not succeed in identifying any young of the glaucous gull, but I have no reason to doubt that the pair had nested there, perhaps on one of the small rocky islets by themselves. Mr. Edward Arnold (1912) reports that " several pairs had their nests built out on large bowlders in the center of ponds, but as the water was very cold and over our heads in depth we could not examine them." On the Labrador coast in 1912 I found the glaucous gull common all along the coast from the Straits of Belle Isle northward. I saw a large breeding colony on the lofty cliffs of the Kigla-pait range between Nain and Okak. The nests were quite inaccessible on the narrow ledges of precipitous cliffs facing the sea. On August 2 we visited a breeding colony of 30 or 40 pairs of glaucous gulls on a rocky islet near Fain. It was a precipitous crag, rising abruptly from the sea to a height of 100 or 150 feet, unapproachable in rough weather, and an invulnerable castle except at one point, where we could land on a rock and climb up a steep grassy slope. Numerous black guillemots flew out from the lower crevices, and my companion, Mr. Donald B. -MacMillan, succeeded in finding a few of their eggs still fairly fresh. Rev. Walter W. Perrett, of Nain, had taken a set of duck hawk's eggs from the cliffs earlier in the season. The upper part of the rock was occupied by the gulls, where their nests were mostly on inaccessible ledges. Near the top of the rock, which was flat and covered with grass, we found quite a number of nests that we could reach, but all of these were empty. Below us we could see nests containing young of various ages and one nest still held two eggs. Some of the young were nearly ready to fly and probably some had already flown. The nests were made of soft grasses and mosses, and were not very elaborate or very bulky for such large gulls ; probably they had been somewhat trampled down by the young. 54 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. Kumlien (1879) found the glaucous gull breeding abundantly in the Cumberland Sound region. He describes one nesting site as " an enormous cliff about 1£ miles in length and over 2,000 feet in height, and nearly perpendicular. This cliff is about 4 miles from the sea- shore to the east-northeast of America Harbor. Many hundreds of nests are scattered about on the little projecting shelves of rock, and the birds sitting on them look like little bunches of snow still unmelted on the cliff. The ascent to this locality is very laborious ; but the marvelous beauty of the place will well repay any future explorer to visit it, for the plants that grow in such rich profusion at the base of the cliff, if nothing more." He also says : I have examined' some nests that were built on the duck islands, always on the highest eminence. The structure seemed to have been used and added to for many years in succession, probably by the same pair. In shape they were pyramid-formed mounds, over 4 feet at the base and about 1 foot at>the top, and nearly 2£ feet in height.. They were composed of every. conceivable object found in the vicinity, grass, seaweed, moss, lichens, feathers, bones, skin, egg shells, etc. Regarding the breeding habits of this species in Greenland;,. Mr, J. D. Figgins writes me that on Saunders Island : The nest is composed of moss and grass, often of considerable height because of the yearly repair, always near the top of the cliffs and never approachable from below. The nests are rarely placed other than near rookeries of murres and other gulls, where the glaucous gulls prey upon the eggs and young. When the gulls make forays upon the murre and kittiwake rookeries, the latter birds make no defense whatever and, besides uttering their usual querulous com- plaints, offer no resistance, seemingly knowing that it is quite useless. The glaucous gulls prefer small young, which their advanced young gulp whole. Young in various stages of growth, from newly hatched to those ready to leave the nests, were found abundantly on August 15. No eggs were seen at that time. Both adults were invariably nearby, screaming protest when the nest was approached and following the intruder for considerable distance when leaving. On the Arctic coast of Mackenzie, Macfarlane (1908) found some 20 nests of this species on sandy islets in the bays and rivers : The nest was usually a shallow depression in the beach, while in one of them we discovered an egg of the black brant which was being incubated by a bird of this species. Nelson (1887) describes two nests found by him on the Yukon delta, as follows : On June 4 their first nest was found. It was placed on a small islet, a few feet across, in the center of a broad shallow pond. The structure was formed of a mass of moss and grass piled up a foot or more high, with a base 3 feet across and with a deep central depression lined with dry grass. There was a single egg. The female, as she sat on the nest, was visible a mile away, and not the slightest opportunity was afforded for concealment on the broad sur- rounding flat. LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TERNS. 55 On June 15, near St. Michaels, another nest was found, an equally conspicuous structure. Like the majority of their nests found by me, it also was located on a small islet in a pond. It was 2 feet high, with a base from 3 to 4 feet long by 2 wide and measured about 18 inches across the top. In the apex was a de- pression about 5 inches deep and 9 inches in diameter. This bulky structure was made up of tufts of moss and grass rooted up by the birds' beaks. ' The ground looked as though it had been rooted up by pigs in places near the nest and on the outer edge of the pond ; and while I was examining the nest, which contained three eggs, one of the old birds came flying up from a considerable distance, carrying a large tuft of muddy grass in its beak and dropped it close by on seeing me. One of the eggs taken was white, without a trace of the usual color marks. While I was securing the eggs the parents swooped down close to my head, uttering harsh cries. On July 7, 1911, 1 visited Walrus Island, in the Pribilof group in Bering 'Sea, where among all the hordes of water fowl that breed in this wonderful islet was a nesting colony of glaucous-winged and glaucous gulls. Their nests were scattered among the tufts of short, coarse grass, which covered the highest and central part of the island, where soil had been formed by the accumulation of guano. The nests were rather bulky and well made of seaweed and soft grasses; a few of them still contained eggs, but nearly all of the young had hatched and were hiding in the grass and among the rocks. We were not allowed to shoot any birds here and the gulls were too shy to enable us to identify any nests, but I am positive that both species were breeding here. The glaucous-winged gull seems to have been overlooked by some of the others who have visited this island, though it may not have been breeding there then. Eggs. — As with most gulls, only one brood is raised in a season and the set usually consists of three eggs, though two eggs frequently complete the set. The eggs are similar to those of other large gulls, varying in shape from ovate to elongate ovate. The shell is rather coarsely granulated and without luster. The ground color shows the usual variations from " buffy brown " to " deep olive buff " or " pale olive buff." The eggs are usually not very thickly and more or less irregularly spotted with small spots or blotches of various shades of the darker browns, such as "bone brown," "bister," or " Saccardo's umber " ; also sometimes with lighter browns and often with underlying spots of various shades of the lighter drabs and lavender grays. The measurements of 56 eggs in the United States National Museum average 75.8 by 52.4 millimeters ; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 85.5 by 50.5, 78 by 57, 70 by 52.5 and 76.5 by 48 millimeters. Young.— Both Turner (1886) and Elliott (1875) give the period of incubation as about three weeks, but probably four weeks would be more nearly correct ; Evans (1891) gives it as 28 days. Probably both sexes incubate, for the pairs keep together at this time, and the male 174785—21- 5 56 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. usually stands guard near the nest while the female is incubating. The young leave the nest after a few days and become quite lively; they are expert at hiding under whatever shelter they can find, often lying flat in some slight hollow with the eyes tightly closed. Kumlien (1879) says that he "had an opportunity of seeing how these young hopefuls are instructed in egg sucking. The parent carried a duck's egg to the nest and broke a hole in it, and the young one just helped himself at his leisure. After the young are full-fledged these birds are, eminently gregarious, and are often seen feeding in considerable flocks." The young are voracious feeders and become very fat, when they are much esteemed by the natives for food. Plwnages. — The young chick is covered with long, soft, thick down, grayish white above and almost pure white below, tinged with buff on the throat and breast. The back is clouded or blotched with "smoke gray," and the head and throat are distinctly marked with numerous large and small spots of " fuscous black," the number and extent of the markings varying in different specimens. Before the young bird is half grown the juvenal plumage begins to appear, about the last of July, showing first on the wings, scapulars, flanks, and back; Doctor Dwight (1906) .has given us a full and accurate account of the molts and plumages of this species. Of the juvenal plumage he August or early September finds birds -wholly in the brown barred or mottled plumage, of which the flight feathers and the tail are retained for a full year, the body plumage and some of the lesser wing coverts being partially renewed at two periods of moult, the post juvenal in November or later and the prenuptial beginning often as early as the end of February. The first winter plumage only partially supplants the juvenal, " chiefly on the back. The overlapping of the post- juvenal and pre- nuptial moults obscures the question of whether all young birds pass through one or two moults during their first winter, but the evidence is in favor of two. Before the time of the prenuptial arrives birds have faded out a good deal and are often quite white in appearance, with the brown mottling very pbscure. The paler of the drab pri- maries apparently fade to white in some cases." At the first post- nuptial molt in August and early September, when the bird is 14 or 15 months old, a complete change takes place, producing the lighter but still mottled plumage of the second year. There is, how- ever, great individual variation in the purity of this plumage, some birds still retaining mottled feathers like those of the first year and others acquiring advanced signs of maturity. Doctor Dwight (1906) says further: In a very few birds brown mottled feathers still predominate, although birds with fairly developed gray mantles, white tails sprinkled with brown, and having pale ecru-drab or white primaries are perhaps the most usual type of U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 113 PL. 12 Sulwuddy, Greenland. D B MacMillan Cape Kendrick, Greenland. Glaucous Gull. For description see page 330. D. B. MacMillan. LIFE HISTORIES OE NORTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TERNS. 57 plumage. The white heads and bodies are much obscured with smoky gray. An extreme is represented by birds absolutely pure white, the "hutchimii" type. The dark bill of the young bird is replaced by a bill which is partially yellow. A partial prenuptial moult occurs in April, producing the second nuptial plumage, in which some birds, except for wings and tail, are now like adults. The adult winter plumage is acquired by a complete postnuptial molt, in August and September, when the bird is 26 or 27 months old. This plumage is characterized by the pure white head and body plumage, pale pearl-gray mantle and wings of the same shade, fad- ing to white at the tips of the remiges. A few birds still retain traces of immaturity, such as an occasional mottled feather or some signs of dusky clouding on the head, which disappear at the third partial prenuptial molt. In the complete, postnuptial molt the remiges are shed in pairs, in regular rotation, beginning with the inner secondary and ending with the outer primary. Food. — The glaucous gull is noted for its ravenous appetite, for it is a voracious feeder and is not at all particular about its diet, which includes almost any kind of animal food whether fresh or carrion. Its fresh food consists of fish or mollusks, which are usually stolen from other sea birds, starfish, sea-urchins, surface-swimming amphipods and crustaceans, and the eggs and young of other sea birds. Yarrell (1871) says that "it feeds also on Cancer pulex and araneus; extracts the soft animals from the shells of Venus islandica, Pecten islandicus, and searches closely for the lump-sucking fish, Gyclopterus lumpus." That it is not content with devouring the eggs and young of dovekies, murres, and other small sea birds is shown by the much quoted statement by Swainson and Richardson (1831) that " one specimen killed on Captain Ross's expedition, dis- gorged an auk when it was struck, and proved by dissection to have another in its stomach." As a consumer of carrion it is undoubtedly useful ; it feeds freely on dead fish or other animal refuse, which it finds along the shore, the entrails of fish, which are thrown over- board, the carcases of seals and the remains of animals or birds killed by hunters. Murdoch (1885) says: If a duck be shot so that he fall in the water or any not easily accessible place, an hour is generally time enough for him to be reduced to a skeleton by the gulls. Nuttall (1834) states that they " are said to attend on the walrus to feed on its excrement"; also that when "pressed by hunger," they sometimes even condescend to share the crow berry with the ptarmi- gan. Hagerup (1891) observes that "after the young leave their nests in August they gather on the flat tracts along the shore and feed on the berries of Empetrum, nigrum, of which they consume a vast quantity." 58 BULLETIN 113^ UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. Behavior.— The flight of this gull is not especially different from that of other large gulls, though it is particularly strong and at times quite swift, as when chasing the smaller sea birds to rob them of their food. The white-tipped wings serve to distinguish it from all other gulls except the Iceland gull, from which it differs only in size — a very unsatisfactory field mark. Even in young birds the pri- maries are much whiter than in other species, so that on the Pacific coast the glaucous gull can usually be recognized at short range. Its voice is usually Joud and harsh, often shrill and penetrating, but on its breeding grounds I have heard it utter a variety of soft conversational notes after the first excitement was over. Nelson (1887) gives us a good description of its notes as follows : They have, a series of hoarse cries like the syllables ku-ku-ku, ku-lee-oo, ku-lee-oo, ku-lee-oo, ku-ku-ku, ku-ku-ku. The syllables ku-ku are uttered in a hoarse nasal tone ; the rest, in a shrill, screaming cry, reaching the ear at a great distance. These notes are used when quarreling or communicating with each other, and when disturbed on their breeding ground. At Unalaska, dur- ing May, 1877, 1 found them about the cliffs on the outer face of the island, and ■they protested < vigorously against our presence as they glided back and forth overhead or perched on craggy shelves. Elliott (1880) says: It has a loud, shrill, eaglelike scream, becoming more monotonous by its repetition ; and it also utters a low, chattering croak while coasting. Turner (1886) observes: The note of this bird is variable ; in spring a harsh Kaou, which changes to a deep honk, in a few weeks. When flying along the shore a prolonged, grunting croak is uttered. Chamberlain (1891) gives it as " something like the syllables Kuk- lak; I have seen it written cut-XeekP I quote from Mr. Hersey's notes his observations on the behavior of this species near St. Michael: The glaucous gull is a bird of marked individuality. , Though, often solitary, when a number do assemble together they are usually' rather noisy. A large flock has kept close to the ship for several days while we have" been anchored in the bay and this gave me a good opportunity to study them. Often while all were resting quietly on the water pne would extend his neck, open his mouth to its widest extent, and swim rapidly along, voicing, his wild harsh notes. Sometimes he would swim in circles while calling, or two birds would swim side by side, either in a straight course or circling. At other times they would face one another on the water, or when on the wing one would rise above the other, the lower bird stretching his neck up and the other reaching downward, and both with dangling legs and motionless wings cry lustily. At one time while two birds were struggling with a piece of food two others sat on the water near by and added their cries to the general commotion. Both adult and immature birds do this. They are strong swift fliers, and probably pugnacious toward smaller or weaker species, but I did not see them molest any other birds,, although LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TERNS. 59 I often noticed that the Sabine's and short-billed gulls, Pacific kittiwakes and jaegers kept at a respectful distance and never attempted to pick up food from the water if these gulls were near but left it for them. When no food was in sight all the above species rested on the water together in one flock. When food was thrown out the glaucous gull was slower in taking wing than the others and often lost his share on this account. The glaucous gull is decidedly predatory in its habits. Nuttall (1834) says: They wrest prey from weaker birds, and are often seen hovering in the air or seated on some lofty pinnacle of ice, whence, having fixed their eye upon some favorite morsel, they dart down on the possessor, which, whether fulmar, guillemot, or kittiwake, must instantly resign the prize.. The auk, as well as the young penguin, they not only rob but often wholly devour. Kumlien (1879) gives the following account pf how it robs the eiders: , June 4, I saw a few L. glaucus among a large flock of Som. mollissima that were diving for food outside, the. harbor in a small lead in the ice. As soon as the duck came to the surface the gull attacked it till, it disgorged some- thing, which was immediately gobbled up by the gull. The gull picked several times at what was disgorged, which leads me to the belief that the food was small crustaceans. This piratical mode of living is very characteristic of Larus glaucus. A similar performance has been noted by Hagerup (1891) in Greenland. The Eskimos find the breasts of this and other gulls desirable as food, the young birds being considered a delicacy, and the eggs are very good to eat when fresh. Many an Arctic explorer also has found these birds a welcome addition to the food supply. Kumlien (1879) thus describes the primitive methods of the Eskimos in cap- turing these birds : One, of the most popular is to build; a small snow hut on the ice in a locality frequented by the gulls. Some blubber or scraps of meat are exposed to view on the top and seldom fails to induce the bird to alight on the roof of the structure. This is so thin that the Eskimo on the inside can readily see the bird through the snow and, with a quick grab, will break through the snow and catch the bird by the legs. Some use a spear, thrusting it violently through the roof of the hut. Many are killed by exposing pieces of blubber among the hummocky ice and lying concealed within proper distance for bow and arrow practice. • Murdock (1885) tells us of another method practiced at Point Barrow : They are a favorite bird with the natives, and many are shot in the autumn as they fly up and down the shore. They are also occasionally caught with ,a baited line in the autumn when there is , a light snow on the beach. A little stick of hardwood, about 4 inches long and sharpened at both ends, has attached to its middle a strong line of deer sinew." The stick is carefully wrapped in 60 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. blubber or meat and exposed on the beach, while the short line is securely fastened to a stake driven Into the sand and carefully concealed in the snow. The gull picks up the tempting morsel and swallows it and, of course, is caught by the stick, which turns sidewise across his gullet, and his struggles to escape fix it more firmly. Winter. — Although some individuals, principally young birds, re- main as far north as Greenland in winter, the great majority of these gulls migrate southward when the sea ice freezes, and their feeding grounds are covered with ice and snow, but winter must be well upon us before we need look for them on the New England coast. They are always rare here and find the southern limit of their normal winter range about Long Island. When on our coasts they may be seen among the flocks of herring gulls which frequent our harbors and beaches, acting as scavengers, intent only on finding a good food supply. Mcllwraith (1894) says: During the winter months the "'burgomaster," as this species is usually named, may be seen roaming around the shores of Lake Ontario, seeking what it may devour, and It Is not very scrupulous either as regards quantity or quality. On the Pacific coast it winters as far south as Monterey, asso- ciating with the common winter gulls of that region. Many years ago Mr. Kidgway .(1886) described the glaucous gulls of the coasts of Alaska and adjacent waters as a new species under the name ..Iiaryts barrovianus, the size and the shape of the bill being the chief distinguishing character. Twenty years later Doctor Dwight (1906) argued that this species was untenable, and it was removed from the check list. Recently, however, Dr. H. C. Ober- holser (1918) has resurrected barroviamis, as a subspecies of hyper- boreus, on the claim that the Alaska bird is smaller and has a darker mantle than the birds from Greenland or from Europe. Whether this claim is well founded or not, it is apparently a fact that the characters he ascribes to the Alaska bird hold true in a large majority of the specimens, though there are some exceptions to the rule. Doctor Dwight, however, still maintains that the pro- posed race is unworthy of recognition in nomenclature. DISTRIBUTION. Breeding range. — Circumpolar, including practically all the Arctic coasts and islands of both hemispheres. In North America south to eastern Labrador (Cape Harrison), Newfoundland (west coast and in the interior) , James Bay (east side), northern Hudson Bay (Cape Fullerton) , Arctic coast of Canada and Alaska, Bering Sea coast of Alaska (south to the Kuskoquim River) and Pribilof Islands (Wal- LIFE HISTORIES 01? NORTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TERNS. &1 rus Island) . North on all the Arctic islands and northern Greenland to at least latitude 82° 34' North. In the eastern hemisphere from Spitzbergen and Nova Zembla eastward to northeastern Siberia and Wrangel Island. South to Iceland, Arctic coasts of Europe and Asia and to Kamchatka. Breeding grounds protected in the following national reservations in Alaska: Bering Sea, St. Matthew Island; Pribilofs, Walrus Island. Winter Range. — In North America south along the coast fairly regularly to Massachusetts and Long Island and casually farther south. In the interior rarely to the Great Lakes (Lakes Ontario and Michigan). And on the Pacific coasts south to central California (Monterey) and Japan, rarely to the Hawaiian Islands. In Europe south to the Azores and the Mediterranean, Black, and Caspian Seas. North to limits of open water. Spring migration. — Early dates of arrival: Southern Greenland, March 20 ; northeastern Greenland, latitude 80° 20' North, June 9 ; Baffin Land, Kingwah Fiord, April 20 ; Fort Conger, May 14 ; King Oscar Land, May 27 ; Prince Albert Land, May 31 ; Winter Harbor, June 3 ; Wellington Channel, May 16 ; Alaska, Yukon Delta, May 13 ; Kowak Kiver, May 11; Point Barrow, May 11; and Demarcation Point, May 14. Late dates of departure: Long Island, Rockaway, May 1 ; Massachusetts, Bockport, April 24; Maine, Portland, April 27; Quebec, Godbout, April 29; California, Monterey, May 4; Wash- ington, Tacoma, May 2. FaU migration. — Early dates of arrival : Massachusetts, Cambridge, November 29 ; Long Island, Orient, November 30 ; California, Monte- rey, November 6. Late dates of departure : Ellesmere Land, Cape Union, September 1; Greenland, Thank God Harbor, September 3, and Bowdoin Bay, October 17; Mackenzie Biver, October 9; Alaska, Point Barrow, November 1; Kotzebue Sound, October 13; Unalaska, November 12; Diomede Islands, December 7; Pribilof Islands, De- cember 13. Casual records. — Wanders in winter along Atlantic coast to North Carolina (Cape Lookout, Carteret County, March 30 or 31, 1895), and to Bermuda (April 28, 1901). Accidental at many places in the interior, westward to Wisconsin (Milwaukee, January 8, 12, and 14, 1895) , and southward to Texas (Clay County, December 17, 1880) . Egg dates.— Canadian Arctic coast: Twenty records, June 10 to July 8; ten records, June 25 to July 5. Northern Alaska: Eleven records, May 26 to June 28 ; six records, May 30 to June 12. Green- land: Nine records, May 26 to July 2; five records, June 7 to 14. Iceland : Ten records, May 12 to June 21 ; five records, June 1 to 10. Newfoundland : Three records, June 3, 5, and 8. 62 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM:. LARUS LEUCOPTERUS Faber. ICELAND GULL. HABITS. Contributed Tyy Charles Wendell Totmsend. The Iceland gull is a smaller edition of the glaucous gull, which it resembles closely in appearance and habits. Like its larger rela- tive it breeds in the Arctic regions in Victoria Land, Boothia Penin- sula, (Greenland, Iceland, and east r to Ifava Zembla. It winters wherever there is open water in its range and south to Long Island and the British^ Isles. In the interior it is rare. Eather more arctic in its distribution than the glaucous gull, it seldom comes as far south in winter. ; , Westing. — The Iceland gull nests in communities by itself and with other species of gulls both on high rocky cliffs and on low^ sandy shores. Boss (1835) found it breeding on the faces of preci- pices on the shores of Prince Regent's Inlet with the glaucous gull, "but at a much less height and in greater numbers." Hagerup (4.891) at Ivigtut in; Greenland says : About a thousand pair nest on the "bird cliff," above the kittiwakes. The lowest nests are built at a height of about 200 feet ;. the highest at about 500 feet above sea level. In 1888 a single pair hatched their young away fronj the rest on the face of the cliff, close by the edge of. the ice, and at the height of 40 feet. Two pair, raised, their young during the three summers I was in Greenland on a cliff which was formerly the home of numerous kittiwakes. One of these nests was at the height of 15 feet, the other 100 feet above sea level. - • '• ■ '.■■•'.' ■!•■•' .['.,. - ■ "'.»!.. ■•■''.'- He writes that the birds arrive in March and often lay their eggs while the fiord below is still .covered with ice. The earliest, young leave their nests at the close of July. The nest is rather a bulky affair, made up of mosses and grasses, Qne set of eggs is laid, either, two or three in number. , Eggs.-^TlQA eggs are of a clay color with numerous chocolate- colored. markings. They are exactly like those of hyperboreus, but smaller. i-The measurements of 54 eggs, in varjous collections, aver- age 68 by 48 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes meas- ure, 75.5 by 49.5, 72.5 by 51, 62.5 and 49,6, and 65.7 by 44.7 milli- meters. Plumages. — The downy young are dingy white, with brownish- gray spots above, especially about the head. In July and August they are feathered out in the juvenal plumage, which is white, more or less barred and mottled above with black and brown. Below they are gray with indistinct cloudings. Dwight (1906) says of this LITE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TERNS. 63 stage that " the primaries more frequently have white or brownish shafts, untinged with the yellow, so prominent in glaucus." Kum- lein (1879) says that the first plumage of the young is darker than that of the yearling bird, while the opposite is the case in glaucus. According to Dwight (1906), "the sequence of molts and plumage is precisely the same as in the larger glaucus, of which it is a small edition. There is, however, no overlapping of dimensions, for even the largest male fails to reach the size of the smallest female glaucus." The first winter plumage resembles the juvenal, and is acquired by a partial posfrjuvenal molt. In this plumage the bird looks white, but rather soiled and buffy or coffee-stained in places. There is considerable variation, and in some individuals the mottling is quite dark. After the first postnuptial molt the bird loses much of its mottling and becomes nearly white, the candidus and glaciqlis oi early writers corresponding to the hutcKinsii of the glaucous gull. Dwight says that " second-year birds more often have adult mantles than do second-year glaucus, but the creamy or pinkish drab, or white primaries and brown mottled feathers in wings of tail, betray their age." The full. adult plumage is assumed in the third winter, and is characterized by a pearl-gray mantle and pure white color of head, breast, tail, and the tips of all of the wing feathers. The bill is yellow. According to Dwight the color of the mantle is some- what darker than that of glaucus. This stage is rarely seen on the New England coast, although full adults of the glaucous gull are not uncommon. The recognition of a white-winged gull in the field is not difficult. The general whiteness of the birds as compared with herring gulls, for example, makes them conspicuous. In all cases where the diag- nosis is suspected it is necessary to examine carefully the wing tips with the glasses before one can speak with certainty. The entire absence of dark markings on the wing tips at once settles the general diagnosis, but it is ofte,n, extremely difficult to differentiate between the glaucous gull and the present species. Particularly is this the case if a white-winged gull is seen alone or with others of the same species. Size in absence of other objects for comparison is very deceptive. In company with the glaucous or the herring gull, the Iceland gull is seen to be a little smaller. The glaucous gull is not only larger than the Iceland gull, but is also larger than the herring gull ; but here again appearances without careful comparison are apt to be deceptive. In fact, size alone is of little value, for a large male Iceland gull may nearly equal, in size a small female glaucous gull: The size of the head, neck, and bill are, however, important field marks, for these are noticeably smaller in proportion to the size of the bird in the Iceland gull than in the glaucous gull. 64 BULLETIN 115, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. Food. — The feeding habits of the Iceland gull are similar to those of the glaucous and herring gulls. They are ever on the alert to pick up dead fish, Crustacea, or other edible substance from the surface of the water and from the beaches. About Eskimo encampments seal and fish refuse are eagerly sought. Hagerup (1891) states that in Greenland the young feed on the berries of Empetrum nigrum* He also says: For a while after leaving the nests they are accompanied by one of the parents, or by both, and these give warning in a wise and unmistakable manner ; " Don't go near those treacherous boats," they seem to cry. Later on the young mingle with the young of the glaucous gull, but not with young kittlwakes. In voice and habits the young birds quite resemble young glaucous gulls. Behavior. — Like other gulls and terns the Iceland gull is some- times of value to man in indicating the presence of fish. Baird^ Brewer, and Ridgway (1884) quote from Faber a statement that in 1821 " on the 1st of March the shore was full of sea gulls ; but early on the 2d the air was filled with numbers of this species which had arrived during the night. The Icelanders concluded from the sud- den appearance of the birds that shoals of codfish must have arrived on the coast, and it was soon found that this conjecture was correct." He adds that these gulls " would indicate to the seal shooters in the fiord where the seals were to be looked for, by following their track to the sea and hovering over them in flocks with incessant cries." In both cases it is probable that the larger creatures stirred up the water so that the smaller food of the gulls could be obtained. In the same way flocks of terns follow whales, not with any expecta- tions of feeding on the whale, but on the smaller marine life stirred up by the whale and on which both feed. Winter. — Iceland gulls, as well as glaucous and Kumlien gulls, visit the New England seacoast more in some than in other winters, dependent, no doubt, on the amount of open water and on the suffi- cient or insufficient food supply in the north. In the winter of 1907 and 1908 we were favored with an unusually large number of these northern birds in the vicinity of Boston. F. H. Allen (1908) re- ported one or two Iceland gulls in immature plumage in Charles River Basin and in Boston Harbor, at least three at Swampscott, and one at Lynn and Marblehead. DISTRIBUTION. Breeding range. — Portions of the Arctic regions; from Victoria Land (Cambridge Bay), Boothia Peninsula, and west-central Green- land east probably to Nova Zembla ; southern limits not well defined. Said to breed in Hudson Bay. Mackenzie Bay and other western records are not well established and should be discredited. U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 113 PL. 13 Walrus Island, Alaska. A. C. Bent. Bogoslof Island, Alaska. Glaucous-Winged Gull. For description see page 330. A. C. Bent. LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TERNS. 65 ■Winter range. — From the northern limits of open water in southern Greenland south along the Labrador coast to the Bay of Fundy and Maine, more rarely Massachusetts and Long Island. Occasionally on the Great Lakes as far west as Michigan (Sault Sainte Marie). Re- corded off North Carolina (Cape Hatteras). In Europe from Ice- land, the northern British Isles, and Scandinavia south; rarely to northern France and the Baltic Sea. Spring migration. — Early dates of arrival : Ellesmere Land, Fort Conger, May 19 to June 5 ; northeastern Greenland, June 20. Late dates of departure: New York, Rochester, April 14; Maine, Port- land, April 27, and Richmonds Island, May 20 ; Ontario, Port Sid- ney, April 6 ; Quebec, Godbout, May 1. Fall migration. — Early dates of arrival: Massachusetts, Boston, November 4; New York, Lansingburg, November 21. Late dates of departure: Northeastern Greenland, September 25 to 30; Gulf of Cumberland, September 6. Casual records.— Accidental in Maryland (Baltimore, November 23, 1893) and at various places in the interior, as far west as Nebraska (Dorchester, January 15, 1907). Two specimens taken at Point Barrow, Alaska, August 4 and September 19, 1882. Egg dates. — Iceland : Eleven records, May to July 2 ; six records, June 6 to 28. Greenland: Nine records, May 29 to July 1; five records, June 10 to 20. LARU8 GLAUCESCENS Naumann. GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULL. HABITS. This, the most abundant, the most widely distributed, and the characteristic gull of the north Pacific coast, is an omnipresent and familiar sight to the travelers along the picturesque coast and through the numerous inside passages leading to Alaska. From the coast of Oregon southward it is replaced by the dark-mantled west- ern gull during the breeding season, and in Bering Sea it mingles with the large white Arctic species, the glaucous gull, by which it is replaced northward. During the latter part of April, in 1911, we first became familiar with the glaucous- winged gull in Puget Sound, where it was very abundant, feeding with the herring gull in large numbers about the harbors. As we steamed northward in May through various channels and sounds to Ketchikan, Alaska, the grand and picturesque scenery of those inside passages was enlivened and made more attractive by the constant presence of these gulls following the ship, drifting northward to their breeding grounds, or merely wandering in search of food.. At Ketchikan they were 66 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. particularly abundant in a great variety of plumages of different ages. But when we passed through Dixon Entrance and out into the Pacific Ocean we left the gulls behind, as the land faded away from sight, and when 50 or 100 miles from land they had been re- placed by the more pelagic fulmars and albatrosses. We did not see them again until we came within sight of the Aleutian Islands, and from that time on they were always with us throughout* the whole length of the Aleutian chain. Spring. — As this gull is practically resident, or, at least, always briefly a few typical breeding colonies in different localities, present throughout all but the extreme northern portions of its breeding range, it is difficult to tell just when it arrived on its breed- ing grounds; but it usually begins to frequent or to resent intrusion upon its nesting grounds at least a fortnight before egg laying begins, the dates varying greatly in the different latitudes. To illus- trate the wide variations in its nesting habits I propose to describe Nesting. — The largest and most interesting colonies of the glaucous- winged gull, in the southern part of its range, are among the spec- tacular sea-bird colonies on the rocky islands set apart as reserva- tions off the coast of Washington ; and divided into three groups^ known as the Copalis Rock Reservation, the Quill'ayute Needle Res- ervation, and the Flattery Bocks Reservation. Mr. W. Leon Daw- son (1908a) and Prof. Lynds Jones .visited the" various islands in these groups in 1905 and 1907, and made careful estimates of the numbers and kinds of birds found breeding there. The full report is well worth reading to gain a fair impression of what these wonder- ful reservations contain, but I shall confine my quotations to a few striking facts taken from it. Only two pairs of glaucous-winged gulls were found nesting on Destruction Island, which seems to ! be the southern 'limit of its breeding range. Thence northward, colo- nies of this species became more frequent and increased in size. The largest colony was found on Wishalooth Island, from 2,000 to 3j000 glaucous- winged gulls, 100 to 500 western gulls, 1,000 tufted puffins, 5,000 to 15,000 Kaeding's petrels, and 100 Baird's cormorants. This is an island of about 20 acres, three-quarters of a mile offshore in the Quillayute Needles Reservation. It is " a lofty jagged ridge of metamorpmc conglomerate with sharply sloping sides covered with guano ledges and resulting areas of shallow earth, which are clothed with grass and other vegetation — yarrow, painted cup, and the like ; 175 feet high; 200 yards long along the crest." Carroll Islet, "the gem of the Olympiades," as Mr. Dawson calls it, contained the. fol- lowing wonderful colonies of breeding water birds: Five thousand tufted puffins, 1,000 Cassin's auklets, 20 pigeon guillemots, 700 Cali- fornia murres, 1,000 glaucous- winged gulls, 50 western gulls, 500 U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 113 PL. 14 Flattery Rocks, Washington. W. L. Dawson. Carroll Islet, Washington. Glaucous-Winged Gull. For description see page 330. W. L. Dawson. LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TERNS. 67 Kaeding petrels, 100 white-crested cormorants, and 500 Baird's cor- morants. Professor Jones (1908) has well described it, as follows: Seaward Carroll Islet presents a rock precipice some 200 feet in height. A stone dropped from the top, within 2 rods of our camp, would fall clear into the ocean below. Landward the islet slopes at first gently, but finally at an angle of nearly 70° to within 30 feet of the water, ending in another precipice there. It was only along the landward side that ascent was possible, and even there one must clamber up vertically for 10 or more feet, finding foothold in the weathered rock. • Two sharp rock ridges jut out, one at the northeast corner, the other landward easterly. The gentler slope of the top is covered with Sitka spruce trees, two of them old monarchs, with a few deciduous trees, growths of elder bushes, a sort of red raspberry .bush, and the ever-present salal bushes. Border- ing on the steeper slopes there is a growth of grass clinging to masses of soil which has lodged in the interstices between rock chips. In some places this grass is seen clinging to shelves on the face of precipices. Exposed rock faces are pitted and hollowed by the elements into nesting places for cormorants and gulls. Other rock masses, a good deal worn down, project from the other angles of the island. The waves have worn a hole completely through the island par- allel to the landward side and about a hundred feet from it. Practically the entire island was covered by the nests of this species, except the area covered by the taller trees, and also a relatively small area on the steep slope of the northeastward side. By covered is meant that there were nests in all sorts of situations and within reasonable distance of each other, but never within striking distance of the birds occupying adjoining nests. A number of nests were found beneath the dense fringe of salal bushes, and many of the larger grottoes of the perpendicu- lar rock faces contained a nest. Ledges, which were broad enough to afford us secure footing, were also occupied by nests. Often nests could be seen on small niches in the rocks. There was one nest on the murre ledge fully exposed on the bare rock. Many of the more exposed nests showed unmistakable signs of having been pilfered by crows. Professor Jones noticed that all of the gulls which were nesting under the bushes were old birds with pure white heads, while many of those nesting in the open showed signs of immaturity. The nests were also better made than those in the open. We found this species nesting under somewhat different condi- tions in the Aleutian and Pribilof Islands, where it was decidedly the commonest large gull and universally distributed. On Bogoslof Island on July 4. 1911, we found a colony of between 100 and 200 pairs of glaucous-winged gulls nesting on the flat sandy portions of the famous old volcano. The steep, rocky pinnacles in the center of the island were densely populated by countless thousands of Pallas's murres. Eecent eruptions had thrown up so much volcanic dust, ashes, and sand that extensive sand dunes and flat sandy plains had been formed all around the island, which was entirely bare of shelter and devoid of vegetation. The nests of the glaucous-winged gulls were widely scattered over this area, no two being anywhere near together. They were weir made of seaweed, rockweed, kelp, 68 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. and straws, and were sometimes decorated with feathers or fish bones; some of the nesting material must have been carried a long distance, for the nearest land on which any grass was growing was many miles away. Many of the eggs were pipped and there were quite a number of downy young running about, but a few of the eggs were only slightly incubated. The nesting grounds of the gulls were closely adjacent to a large breeding rookery of Steller's sea lions (Eumetopias stelleri), with which they seemed to be on friendly terms. A few days later we landed on Walrus Island, the most wonderful bird island in North America. Here we found a breeding colony of this species mixed with glaucous gulls on the highest part of the island, where the accumulations of guano had formed a rich soil, supporting a luxuriant growth of grass. Other portions of the little island, which I have described more fully in the history of the red- faced cormorant, contained, in close proximity to the gulls, the most densely populated colonies I have ever seen of California and Pallas's murres, tufted puffin, paroquet, crested and least auklets, Pacific kit- tiwakes, and red-faced cormorants. At the time of our visit (July 7, 1911) most of the gulls' eggs had hatched, but a few eggs were still to be seen in the nests among the tufts of grass. Mr. William Palmer (1899) says of the nests on these islands : On Walrus Island the nests are quite numerous. On June 13 many con- tained three eggs well incubated; some had two fresh eggs, while a few had one or two young and an egg or two. Larger young were picked up on the rocks near the nests. The nests are well made, clean, and are generally com- posed of dead grass stems, which the birds bring from St. Paul. While most were placed on the flat rock, a few were in depressions of the sand which filled some of the larger crevices of the rocks. Dr. E. W. Nelson (1887) says: The usual nesting places of this species are the faces of rugged cliffs, at whose base the waves are continually breaking and the coast exposes its wildest and most broken outline. He seems to think that instances of these gulls nesting in other sit- uations are exceptional. They nest on the steep, rocky cliffs of St. George Island and in similar situations elsewhere, but they also nest frequently on the flat, grassy tops of many small islands, and are found on the sandy plains of Bogoslof Island. We never found them nesting on the larger islands in the Aleutian chain, where they might be disturbed by foxes. On June 19, 1911, I saw a large number of glaucous-winged gulls frequenting a high grassy plain on Kiska Island and acting as if they were breeding in the vicinity, but I could not find any nests. . Eggs. — The glaucous- winged gull normally lays three eggs, though frequently two constitute a full set; four eggs are very rarely, if LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TERNS. 69 ever, laid by one bird. Only one brood is raised in a season. The eggs are not distinguishable from those of other species of gulls of similar size. The prevailing shape is ovate, with variations toward short ovate on one hand and elliptical ovate on the other. The shell is thin and finely granulated, with only a dull luster. The ground color shows various shades of buff, " olive buff," and pale olive. The eggs are spotted, generally uniformly over the entire surface, with small spots or occasional larger blotches of " wood brown," "' raw umber," " burnt umber," or " seal brown," and with underlying spots of " lilac gray." The measurements of 47 eggs in the United States National Museum average. 72.8 by 50.8 millimeters ; the eggs show- ing the four extremes measure 82 by 51.5, 73.5 by 55, 66 by 47.5 and 70.5 by 46.5 millimeters. Young. — Mr. George Willett (1912) noted the following incident in the education of the young : I was considerably interested in observing the swimming lessons given the nearly grown young by the adult birds. In some cases, where the young seemed afraid to take to the water, they were shoved from the rocks by the old birds. The old bird would then swim beside the young one, occasionally poking it with her bill. I was unable to satisfy myself whether this was meant as a caress or as punishment for poor swimming. Plumages.— The period of incubation does not seem to be definitely known. The downy young is " drab gray " above, variegated with " avellaneous," and a paler shade of the same color below, fading to " tilleul buff " on the center of the breast. It is heavily spotted on the back with " fuscous black " and on the head and throat with pure black. The young birds somewhat resemble those of the western gull, but the latter has more of the buffy shades and less of the gray ; and the markings on the back are not quite so heavy. Perhaps in large series they might intergrade. Dr. Jonathan Dwight (1906) has fully described the sequence of plumages in this species as follows : The juvenal plumage is deep plumbeous gray with broad dark barring or mottling and obscure whitish edgings. The tail is nearly solidly gray, sprinkled basally with white, and the flight feathers, Including the quills, are also dark gray. Birds in this plumage are never so pale (especially the primaries) as the darkest leucopterus, nor are they ever so dark as the, palest of the black- primaried species. They fade to a decidedly brown shade, almost mouse gray, but their color (especially that of the primaries) and the size of their bills, even when young birds, are cardinal points by which to recognize them. The first winter plumage is like the juvenal, but at the prenuptial molt white about the head and body and gray on the back begins to appear in some speci- mens, thus marking the first nuptial plumage. In the second winter plumage unpatterned drab or mouse-gray primaries are most frequent, together with the gray mantle of the adult. The white head and neck, as in the other species, are much clouded with dusky markings, which are lost at the next prenuptial 70 BUIiETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. molt. I do not think that primaries with the apical white spots of the adult bird are ever developed until a year later, but in some birds there is a fore- shadowing of the white spots on the first primary. The third winter plumage, that of the adult, is the result of the second post-nuptial molt, after which very few birds can be found, showing traces of immaturity. The new primaries are slaty, and white tipped, the first and sometimes the second with subapical or sometimes terminal white " mirrors," quite unlike the unpatterned feathers of glwucus or the smaller leucopterus. The mantle varies from cinereous to plumbeous gray, the color running over into the primaries, which become de- cidedly slaty toward their apices. The white of the head and neck is still clouded, the dusky markings being characteristic of winter plumages until the birds are quite advanced in age. At prenuptial molts, as in the other species, these feathers are replaced by white ones. Food. — These, like other large gulls, are useful scavengers all along the coast and are practically omnivorous. They were constantly fol- lowing our ship in search of small scraps that might be picked up, and, while we were at anchor at Ketchikan and Unalaska, they were especially numerous and always in sight, eagerly waiting for the garbage to be thrown overboard. They are abundant, in winter, in the harbors of nearly all the large cities on the Pacific coast as far south as southern California, where they feed largely on refuse and seem to fill the place occupied by the herring gull on the Atlantic coast. They are particularly numerous about the garbage heaps which are dumped on the shore to be washed away by the advancing tides. In such places they appear to realize that they are protected and are very tame. In their eagerness to secure the choice morsels of food they seem to forget all about the presence of human beings, even within a few feet. At other times it is difficult for a man to walk up within gunshot distance of them. They become much excited and clamorous in their scramble for food, competing at close quar- ters with other species of gulls, with dogs, and with the lazy Indians. They are none too particular in their choice of food and will eat almost anything that is edible. During the summer they frequent the vicinity of the salmon can- neries, where they gorge themselves on the refuse from the factories or fishing vessels and on the bodies of dead salmon along the shores. As a result they become very fat. On the Pribilof Islands they regularly visit the killing grounds to feast on the entrails and other waste portions of the slaughtered seals, which furnish an abundant food supply. Among the Aleutian Islands, where sea urchins are abundant, we found numerous broken shells of these creatures on the rocky heights frequented by the gulls. Evidently they had been dropped on the rocks to break the shells. In the colonies, where they were nesting with other species, we saw no evidence to prove that they feed on the eggs or young of their neighbors, though they may, perhaps, do so occasionally. On Walrus Island we kept some of the LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TERNS. 71 murres and cormorants off their nests for several hours without any apparent damage from the gulls. Behavior. — The flight of the glaucous-winged gull is buoyant, graceful, and pleasing, and its plumage is always spotlessly clean and neat. A gull in flight is one of nature's most beautiful creatures and one of its triumphs in the mastery of the air. It was a never- ending source of delight to watch these graceful birds following the ship at full speed without the slightest effort, dropping astern to pick up some fallen morsel or forging ahead at will, as if merely playing with their powers of flight. Sometimes the same individual could be recognized day after day by some peculiarity of marking. They seem thoroughly at ease on the wing. Several times I saw one scratch its head with its foot, as it sailed along on set wings, without slackening its pace at all. When traveling against a strong head wind I have seen one sail along for miles without moving its wings, except to adjust slightly the angle at which they were held, keeping alongside the ship, forging ahead, or dropping astern, as it wished, and rising or falling to suit its f aney. When left far astern to pick up food off the water it would give a few flaps when rising, set its wings, and soon catch up with the ship. This power to sail almost directly into the teeth of a strong wind has caused much discussion, as it has been noted in the herring gull and other species. Various theories have been advanced to account for it, all of which are more or less unsatisfactory. To my mind it is simple enough to under- stand if we can realize that a gull is a highly specialized, almost perfect sailing vessel, endowed with instinctive skill in navigating the air to use the forces at its command to advantage. With a clear knowledge of the forces at work when a ship sails, close hauled, to within a few points of the wind, we can imagine the gull sailing along a vertical plane, in which the force of gravity replaces the resistance of the water against the keel and the wind acts against the gull's wings as it does on the sails of the ship ; the resultant of these two forces is a forward movement, which the gull controls by adjusting its center of gravity and the angle of its wings. It is evident from the foregoing accounts that the glaucous- winged gull is decidedly a sociable species on its breeding grounds where it seems to nest in perfect harmony with its neighbors in close quarters. It also associates on migrations and during the winter with various other species of gulls, with all of which it seems to be on good terms. The adults can readily be distinguished from the white- winged species or from those having black-tipped wings by the peculiar color pattern of the primaries. Birds in immature plumage are not so easily recognized, but a careful study of the descriptions given in the manuals will help to identify them. They are not likely to be confused with the dark-mantled western gull, 174785— 21 6 72 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. but Mr. Dawson's (1908) reference to the large number of " mulattoes " on Carroll Islet suggests the possibility that these two species may hybridize. Mr. Dawson (1909), who spent a week studying the vocal per- formances of this species and their significance, has thus classified its various notes : 1. The beak-quaking notes — Harsh, unmusical, and of moderate pitch, used to express distrust and continued disapproval. During the delivery the mandibles are brought together three or four times in moderate succession. This is the ordinary scolding or distress cry of characteristic and uniform pitch, save that it is raised, to a higher, key when- the speaker becomes vehement. The phrase varies from three to five notes, and is uttered in the following cadences : Jcak-ako; ka ka, lea ka; ka ka fcofca/ kaka; kaka, ka kakak; kak-a kak-a-ka. 2. Kawk. — A note of inquiry or mere communication ; has many modifications and varies from a short trumpet note to the succeeding. 3. Klook. — A sepulchral note of uniform interest but uncertain meaning. 4. The trumpet notes, long or short, single or in prolonged succession, high- pitched, musical, and far-sounding. During delivery the head is thrust for- ward, the neck arched, and the throat and mandibles opened to their fullest capacity. These are pleasure notes and are used especially on social occasions, when many birds are about, keer, keer, keer, keer. 5. A(n)k, a(n)k, a(n)k, a(n)k, a(n)k, a(n)k. — Minor trumpet notes of regu- lar length andl succession, used in expostulation or social excitement ; frequent and varied. 6. Klook, klook, klook. — In quality a combination of kawk and the trumpet tones, uttered deliberately and without much show of energy. Used chiefly in domestic conversation of uncertain import 7. Oree-eh, oree-eh, oree-eh, an an an. — An expression of greeting as when uttered by a sitting bird welcoming one about to alight The notes of the first series are trumpet tones, in which the second syllable of each member is raised to a higher pitch, while the voice is dropped again on the third. The second series is lower and more trivial, but still enthusiastic, as though congratulatory to the guest arrived. 8. Ko, — Shouted once, or thrice repeated, in quelling a clamor. " Hist ! Hist ! You're making too much noise ; he's watching us." 9. Arahh. — A slow and mournful trumpeting, usually uttered awing, to ex- press anxiety or grief, as at the loss of a chick. 10. Oo anh, oo anh. — Repeated indefinitely. Notes of coaxing and endear- ment usually addressed to children, but occasionally to wedded mates. The cooing of doves does not express so much adulation or idolatrous devotion as the gull throws into these most domestic tones. Winter. — When winter, with its snow and ice, drives the glaucous- winged gull from the northern portion of its breeding range, there is a general movement southward ; but the migration is more in evidence along the California coast, where this species spends the winter in large numbers, frequenting the harbors in company with glaucous, herring, California, western, and short-billed gulls. It winters commonly as far north as the Aleutian Islands, where it can always find open water. LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TERNS. 73 DISTRIBUTION. Breeding range. — Coasts and islands of the North Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea, from St. Lawrence Island and the Pribilof Islands southward to southern Alaska, British Columbia, and Washington to Destruction Island ; westward throughout the Aleutian and Com- mander Islands ; northward to Kamchatka and northeastern Siberia (Providence Bay). Occurs rarely in summer in northern Bering Sea (St. Michael and Port Clarence), but probably does not breed there. Breeding grounds protected in the following national reserva- tions : In Alaska, Aleutian Islands, as Adak, Atka, Attu, Kiska, Tanaga, and Unalaska ; Bogoslof ; St. Lazaria ; Forrester Island ; in Washington, Flattery Rocks and Quillayute Needles, as Alexander Island, Carroll Islet, and Destruction Island. Winter range. — From the Aleutian Islands, Kodiak, and southern Alaskan coast southward to lower California (San Geronimo and Guadalupe Islands), and from the Commander Islands to Japan (Hakodadi). Birds remains late at the Pribilof Islands, but prob- ably rarely, if ever, stay throughout the entire winter. Spring migration. — Northward along the coast. Late dates of departure : Lower California, San Geronimo Island, March 10 to 15, and Guadalupe Island, March 22 ; California, Santa Cruz Island, May 2, and Monterey, May 10. Fall migration. — Southward along the coast. First arrivals reach California, Monterey, October 25 to 30. Casual records. — Rare visitor to Hawaii (taken December 9, 1902). Rare straggler north of Bering Strait; taken in Kotzebue Sound May 11, 1899, on Wrangel Island April 3, 1916, and at Point Barrow September 19, 1882. Egg dates. — Alaska, south of peninsula : Fifty records, June 3 to July 16 ; twenty -five records, June 20 to July 3. Washington : Nine- teen records, May 29 to July 23 ; ten records, June 14 to 19. British Columbia: Sixteen records, June 14 to July 16; eight records, June 16 to 24. LAKTJS KUMLIENI Brewster. KUMLIEN'S GULL, HABITS. Very little is known about the distribution, much less about the habits, of this and the following species — the two gray-winged gulls — as both are very rare. Kumlien's gull was described by Brews- ter (1883a) from a specimen secured by Ludwig Kumlien in Cum- berland Sound on June 14, 1878. 74 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. Nesting.— When Kumlien (1879) found this species breeding in Cumberland Sound in 1878 he supposed that it was identical with the glaucous-winged gull of the Pacific coast and so reported it. He then gave us the following brief account of t ,its habits : They are quite common in the upper Cumberland waters, , where they breed. Arrived with the opening of the water and soon began, nesting. The nest was placed on the shelving rocks on high cliffs. ' Two pairs nested very near our harbor, but the ravens tore the nest down and destroyed the eggs. Only a single well-identified egg was secured. This gull is unknown to Governor Fencker on the Greenland coast. They remained about the harbor a .great deal and were often observed making away with such scraps as the coqk- had thrown overboard; were shy and difficult to shoot. Full-growij young of this species were shot in the first days of September. These were even darker than the young of L. argeritatus, the' primaries and tali being very nearly black. Since that time nothing further has been learned of its breeding habits, eggs, or young. , Eggs. — Several sets of eggs were collected by Mr. J. S. Warmbath on one of the Peary expeditions, which have since found their way into collections as eggs of Kumlien's gull. These eggs were taken in Ellesmere Land on June 15, 1900, and are probably eggs of a new species of gull, tp be known as Laws thayeri. Probably the only authentic egg of Larus kumliem in existence is the one re- ferred to above as taken by Kumlien. This egg is now in the United States National Museum ; it is a miserable specimen, too badly broken to measure accurately, and is tied together with thread. In shape it is practically elongate ovate. The ground color is " olive buff "; it is sparingly spotted over the entire surface with small spots of " bister," " sepia," several lighter shades of brown, and various shades of brownish drab. If a series of eggs were available for study they would probably show the usual variations which are found in nearly all gulls' eggs. Plumages. — Dr. Jonathan Dwight (1906) has made a careful study of the plumages of this rare species and, based on the examina- tion of 22 specimens, has given us the following conclusions : The natal down is unknown, as no chicks have as yet found their way into collections. The juvenal plumage may be described as follows : Above, drab-gray mottled with dull white and obscurely barred and mottled with darker gray; below, more solidly gray, paler about the head and throat Flight feathers a brownish gray, darker than the body, the outer webs of the primaries darkest. Tail almost solidly drab-gray, the basal portion and the outer pair of rectrices sprinkled with dull white; the upper and under tail coverts similar in color, but with a good deal of blotching or barring. They might easily pass for specimens of glwucescens if it were not for the small bills and rather smaller dimensions. They are considerably darker (especially the primaries) than the darkest leucopterus I have seen, and the nearly solid gray of the tail is a feature not seen in leucopterus. Besides this, the barring and mottling is much coarser and darker. In one of the birds there is a faintly LIFE HISTOKIES OF NORTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TERNS. 75 indicated whitish subapical spot on the first primary, but similar spots may be found in other species of gulls, and it seems to be a variable character of little importance. These specimens are perhaps not in full juvenal plumage, for they are probably partly in first winter dress; and two of them, just beginning the prenuptial molt, having acquired a few gray nuptial feathers of the mantle ; but it must be remembered that the differences between juvenal and first-winter plumages of the gulls are inappreciable. It is probable that the brown shade is due to fading and that earlier in the season these birds were grayer. First winter plumage. — From what has just been said it has been made evident that this plumage differs in practically no respect from the juvenal. The post- juvenal molt is variable' in the time of its occurrence, just as it is in all the gulls, and overlaps the prenuptial so as to be in many cases confused with it. First nuptial plumage. — This plumage doubtless closely resembles the juvenal or the first winter, but birds may be expected to become whiter about the head and with a few gray feathers on the back. Second winter plumage. — Like leucopterus, this species attains a considerable amount of adult plumage at this moult. The gray mantle, clouded white head and body, and white tail indicate a close approximation to the adult plumage; but the primaries and other feathers of the wings are usually drab and not very much paler than in first winter birds. Dark gray or mottled feathers may also be found on the wings or tail or on the body posteriorly. The bills are yellow, but often clouded and with the red spot lacking. The variation is considerable, just as in glaueus or leucopterus or glauceseens, but the darkness of flight feath- ers or tail, or both combined, is a character useful in separating lcumlieni from the two species last mentioned. The tail feathers, like those of glauces- eens, while largely White, may show gray patches, chiefly on the inner webs. Second nuptial plumage.— The body plumage is renewed more or less at the second prenuptial moult, and I find evidence of this in several specimens. Third winter plumage. — Just as in the, other gulls, this species after the sec- ond post-nuptial moult assumes (except perhaps in a very few cases) the adult plumage. Behavior— r It is fair to assume that the habits of Kumlien's gull probably do not differ materially from those of the other large gulls, for they are all very much alike in general behavior with the possible exception of the tyrannous great black-backed gull. Winter. — Kumlien's gull wanders southward late in the fall and winter, probably regularly, though sparingly, as far south as south- ern New England and New York, where it is associated with herring gulls and other species, acting as savengers about our harbors. DISTRIBUTION. Breeding range. — Known to breed only in Cumberland ,Sound. Specimens taken in Ellesmere Land prove to be ihayeri. Winter range. — So far as known, the Gulf of St. Lawrence (Prince Edward ; Island^ and, Bay qf Fundy ^ Grand Manan) ; southward rarely to Massachusetts (Plymouth, and Boston), and New York (Long Island and itohawk River). 76 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM:. Spring Migration. — Long Island, Kockaway Beach, March 8 ; Maine, Portland, April 27. Fall migration.— GrvAi of Cumberland, September 27; Prince Ed- ward Island, October 7 ; Bay of Fundy, November 1. LARUS NELSONI Hcnshaw. NEISON'S GTTLL. HABITS. This large gray- winged gull of the Pacific coast and Bering Sea is so rare that its status, as a species, is none too well established, though the four specimens which had been studied by Doctor Dwighfc (1906) led him to the conclusion that "nelsoni seems to have as good a claim for specific distinctness as does kumMeni, of which it appears to be a large edition." Nothing seems to be known about its breed- ing habits or its breeding range. Plumages:— Doctor D wight (1906) after examining the scanty material available, suggests the following, regarding the probable plumage changes of this rare species : The young bird has never been described, but inasmuch as kumMeni in juvenal plumage is scarcely to be distinguished irom glaucescens, there is every reason for expecting the corresponding plumage of nelsoni to be practically the same. The birds, though, ought to be larger than glaucescens, and I have no doubt that very large specimens now labeled " glaucescens " in. various collections will eventually prove to be nelsoni. Such a bird has been recorded in the British Museum Catalogue, but somehow I overlooked it when examining the collection. In the American Museum, however; I find two specimens (Nos. 26234 and 61536) so much larger than glaucescens usually is that I believe them to be nelsoni. The tarsi and feet are unusually large and massive and the bills very heavy. The bird in the Philadelphia Academy is completing an adult post-nuptial moult, but the other specimens throw very little light on the subject of moult in this species. I have never recognized the bird in life and can not find anything in print regarding its habits, in which it probably closely resembled Kumlien's and the glaucous- winged gulls. Some day, when its breed- ing grounds are discovered, we may know more about it. I am in- clined to think that; it may prove to be identical with Larus kum- Meni, or at best only subspecifically distinct from it. The fact that a young gull, possibly referable to kumMeni, has been taken on the coast of California adds weight to this theory, which may be estab- lished when more material has been collected. '--■•'' DISTRIBUTION. ; Range.— Three specimens taken in Alaska-r-jSt. Michael, June 20; near Bering Strait; and Point Barrow, September 5. One taken in' Lower California, San Geronimo Island, March 1& One taken iii U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 113 PL. 15 Labrador. A. C. Bent. Labrador. Great Black-Backed Gull. For description see page 330. A. C. Bent. LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TERNS. 77 Hawaiian Islands, Hilo, March 13. One taken on Vancouver Island, December 20. Its ranges and migration are otherwise unknown. LAEUS MARINUS Linnaeus. GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL. HABITS. While cruising along the bleak and barren coasts of southern Labrador I learned to know and admire this magnificent gull, as we saw it sailing on its powerful wings high above the desolate crags and rocky islets of that forbidding shore, its chosen summer home. Its resemblance to the bald eagle was striking, as it soared aloft and wheeled in great circles, showing its broad black back and wings in sharp contrast with its snow-white head and tail, glistening in the sunlight. It surely seemed to be a king among the gulls, a merciless tyrant over its fellows, the largest and strongest of its tribe. No. weaker gull dared to intrude upon its feudal domain; the islet it had chosen for its home was deserted and shunned by other less aggressive waterfowl, for no other nest was safe about the castle of this robber baron, only the eider duck being strong enough to defend its young. ^Spring. — Early in May, when winter is breaking up on the south coast of Labrador, the loud defiant cries of the great black-backed gulls are heard as the birds return from their winter resorts to take possession of their summer homes. Mating and nest building begin soon after their arrival. They are not so gregarious here as other gulls. We found no large breeding colonies on this coast, seldom more than four or five pairs on an island, and often only one pair. They seem to prefer solitude and isolation, where each pair can hold undisputed sway over its own territory. We never found them breeding on the mainland, but always on the bare tops of islands, from, 1 which they could have a good outlook. They were never taken by surprise and always left the island long before we reached it, soaring high above us, screaming in protest. They were exceed- ingly shy and would never come within gunshot unless outwitted by strategy, which was no easy task. While walking along the shore at the base of a cliff a black-backed gull flew out over the cliff unex- pectedly, and I dropped him with a charge of heavy shot, but this was the only specimen I was able to obtain. Nesting. — The first nest we found was on a little low islet with sandy and rocky shores, over which a single pair of great black- backed gulls were soaring, as if interested. The nest was conspicu* ous enough when we landed, for it had been built over the base and about the roots of a dead tree which had been washed up on the 78 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL, MUSEUM. beach — a large pile of coarse grasses, seaweeds, sods, and mosses neatly lined with fine grasses. It measured 52 inches across the pile, and the inner cavity, which was deeply hollowed, was 10 inches in diameter. It contained three fresh eggs on May 25, 1909. Another nest was found the next day, which also contained three fresh eggs, on the moss-covered rocks on the highest portion of a small island. It was a shallow nest of mosses, grasses, twigs, and rubbish, with a few feathers and a little seaweed. It measured 20 inches in outside and 10 inches in inside diameter, hollowed to a depth of about 2J inches. There was only one pair of gulls on this island, but a pair of eiders were nesting in a hollow among some fallen dead trees. On some of the islands the nests were mere depressions in the turf 9 or 10 inches across, and the eggs were laid on the ground. The fresh green grass made a handsome border to these nests, but there was no lining of any sort, and not even a twig or bit of straw was used in the construction. Some of them had evidently been used for several seasons. On the northeast coast of Labrador, in 1912, I found the great black-backed gull common and evenly distributed all along the coast, breeding in single pairs on low rocky islands, well inland in the deep bays and among the outer islands. They are locally known as " sad- dlers " or " saddle backs." They are intimately associated with the eider ducks, affording them some protection as sentinels to warn them of approaching dangers. There is almost always a pair of great black-backed gulls nesting on every island where the American eiders or northern eiders are breeding. The fishermen rob the ducks' nests persistently all through the summer, but do not disturb the gull's nests, for they believe that if the gulls are driven away the ducks will not return to breed again. Apparently the adult gulls do not rob the eider's nests, for they are too shy to do so while egg col- lectors are on the island, and at other times the eiders are able to defend their eggs ; but I saw some evidence to indicate that the young gulls, when unable to fly but large enough to run about, do some- times eat the eider eggs. While exploring a low rocky island in one of the bays, where several pairs of northern eiders and one pair of great black-backed gulls were breeding, on August 2, 1912, 1 noticed an eider's nest in which the eggs had been broken and eaten. One young gull was seen swimming away from the island and one long- legged youngster, about half grown, was running about over the smooth rocks so fast that we could hardly catch him. I suspected that he was responsible for the broken eggs. Probably the damage done in this way is more than offset by the benefits derived from such wary sentinels and such powerful defenders against the depre- dations of other gulls and ravens. Young gulls are considered to be very good eating and are often kept in confinement by the resi- dents of Labrador and fattened for the table. LIFE HISTOKIES OF NORTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TERNS. 79 In Newfoundland the great black-backed gull breeds on the islands in fresh-water lakes. On June 23, 1912, I visited a small breeding colony of this species on an island in Sandy Lake, Newfoundland, where about seven pairs of gulls had already hatched their broods and where they had been known to breed regularly for many years. It was a small island, heavily wooded in the central higher portion with birches, poplars, alders, and thick underbrush, but with broad, stony beaches around its shores. The gulls' nests were scattered along the higher portions of the beaches among the loose rocks. All of the nests were empty and most of the young birds were so well hidden among the stones, under piles of driftwood, or in the woods that we found only two. I saw several downy young, only a few days old, swim away from the beach and out onto the rough waters of the lake, where their parents watched them anxiously and finally drove them back to the island after we had left. A pair of glaucous gulls and one or two pairs of herring gulls were flying about the island, but their nests were probably on some of the neighboring islands. The southern limit of its breeding range seems to be in Nova Scotia, where there are several breeding colonies in the lakes of Kings County. Mr. Watson L. Bishop (1888) reported several sets taken on May 22 and May 25 : These were collected on rocks and small islands in the Gaspereaux Lake, where quite a number of these birds breed every year. It is about 18 miles from salt water. There is also said to be a colony of 50 or 100 black-backed gulls nesting on rocky islets in Methol Lake in this county. The largest colony seems to be the well-known colony in Lake George, on which Mr. Howard H. Cleaves has sent me the following interesting notes : In 1912 there were from 600 to 800 adult great black-backed gulls in the breeding colony at Lake George, Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia. At that time the birds were confined to two islands near the northern end of the lake, but Mr. Harrison F. Lewis observed that the colony had increased in 1913 and 1914 eo that in the latter year the birds were occupying four or five islands. The writer and Mr. G. K. Noble spent the period from July 21 to 28, 1912, encamped on an island within a quarter of a mile of the gull islands, visiting the latter daily, when weather conditions permitted, for the purpose of photographing and otherwise studying the birds. The islands selected by the gulls were not large, each comprising probably between two and three acres. They were bordered with glacial bowlders of varying sizes, upon which the young and old habitually stood or squatted. The highest portions of the islands were not more than 8 or 10 feet above the level of the lake. The topsoil, evidently not deep* supported thick growths of weeds and bushes, chief among the latter being alders and raspberry. There were a- few spruces, but these were small and scattering, and there were also several open areas of coarse turf. The lateness of the season at the time of our visit accounted for the finding of only one nest with eggs (three in number), but there were enough empty nests to justify the belief that all the adult birds present had bred, which would mean an aggregate of 300 or 400 nests. 80 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. The birds had used a diversity of sites, some being on rocky peninsulas', others on the turf back from the shore, and many among bowlders or beside stumps a short way from the water line. All seemed to have been situated with a view to affording the owners a clear outlook, it being noted that apparently no birds had selected locations beneath the canopy of the thicket or under the low, spread- ing branches of spruces. Eggs.— The great black-backed gull lays usually three eggs, but sometimes only two. The ground color varies from " pale olive buff " to " wood brown," " biiffy brown," or " Isabella color," with a tend- ency in some specimens toward " tawny olive " or " cinnamon." They are more or less heavily spotted or blotched with various shades of brown, varying from "Brussels' brown " to "clove brown," and are often more or less spotted or clouded with pale lilac, drab, or lavender gray. The measurements of 59 eggs, in various collections, average 77.9 by 54.2 millimeters ; the eggs showing the four extreme measure 86.5 by 54.5, 79 by 57.5, 73 by 53, and 73.5 by 51 millimeters. Young. — The period of incubation is said to be 26 days. Both sexes incubate and assist in the care of the young. The young re- main in the nest for a day or two, but are soon able to crawl but and run about. They spend much of their time hiding in the grass, in crevices between stones, among the underbrush, or anywhere that they can find a little shelter, where they probably sleep' most of the time; but when disturbed they can run with surprising swiftness. I have had to exert myself to the utmost to catch one of the larger young, whose long legs could carry it about as fast as I could run. They are fed by their parents on soft, semidigested food at first, but gradually ihey are trained to accept more solid food. Mr. Cleaves has sent me the following notes on the feeding process : Young of all ages spent much energy in beseeching their parents for food, and the old birds often displayed a discouraging apathy toward their young at such times, even taking to flight or swimming away from the shore to escape the entreaties of their progeny. The older youngsters would sometimes swim after their parents in their eagerness for rations. In, begging for a meal it was usual for a young gull to utter a whining cry and to run his bill along the neck or body of his patent. Not infrequently two or three young were thus besieging one old bird simultaneously. In delivering food to her young the old gull first threw her head forward and downward (with a deliberation of movement which must have been pain- ful to the waiting babies), then opened her spacious mouth and began a series of contortions with her neck muscles. The youngsters, being well aware by now of the imminent, centered attention on the flat stones in front of their mother,, where the disgorged dainties presently appeared. Both parents were observed to feed the young: Immediately after delivering a meal the old birds some- times stood by until the young were well underway with it — this so far as we could see, being for the purpose of keeping off neighbors, either young or old, who might be inclined to piracy. .On one occasion an old bird chased, into the water a half-grown youngster belonging to another pair, and, with her blows at the hack of his head with her beak, might have murdered him had LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TERNS. 81 he not been able, by the use of both his wings and feet, to make the beach and scramble into the brush. A violent encounter lasting many seconds also took place between two adult birds, the striking of their beaks and the thrashing of their giant wings against the alders creating a commotion such, as might do credit to a bull moose. It could not be determined whether the origin of these differences was a matter of food or trespass. Plumages. — The downy young is mainly " pale olive gray," paler on the head and flanks and white on the central breast portion. The head is distinctly marked with well-defined spots, of various sizes and shapes, of " fuscous black"; the back is indistinctly spotted or variegated with " fuscous " and the wings are more heavily marked with an intermediate shade of " fuscous." The lower parts are un- marked. By the time that the young bird is half grown it is nearly fledged in its juvenal plumage, which appears first on the scapulars, wings, breast, and back, in about the order named. The dorsal feathers of this plumage are dusky, broadly tipped or margined with " avellaneous " or " vinaceous buff." This color pattern, which varies considerably in different feathers, is more pronounced in the scapulars and wing coverts than elsewhere. The color patterns in the different feathers vary from a solid dusky center, with broad buffy edges, to a herring-bone pattern, showing a dusky central streak with lateral processes, or to heavy transverse barring. The underparts are also variegated with dusky and " vinaceous buff " or " tilleul buff." The change from the juvenal to the first winter plumage is not well marked, as it is very gradual and is accomplished with a limited amount of molt. The buffy edgings on the dorsal surface fade and wear away during the winter until they become practically white be- fore spring, when the back appears to be transversely barred with dusky and white. The head, which was heavily streaked with dusky in the fa}l,. and the underparts also become much Whiter before spring. In this first-year plumage the primaries are wholly black ; with only the narrowest suggestion of white tips on the innermost; the secondaries and tertials are dusky and more or less brtfadly edged with buffy white; the greater coverts are somewhat variegated; and the lesser coverts are like the back. The tail is basally white, mubh mottled or variegated with " fuscous " or " fuscous black," wfth a broad subterminal band of " fuscous black." This band is broadest and the mottling is thickest on the central rectices, decreasing out- wardly, so that the outer feather has only a large subterminal spot and a few dusky markings. The bill is wholly dark. The second-year plumage shows only a slight advance toward maturity, and is mainly characterized by the mixture of several different types of feathers in the back, scapulars, and wing coverts. Some of these are wholly " slate color " or " blackish slate," as iri the adult; others are basally so colored and terminally barred, 82 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. spotted, or variegated; still other new feathers are reproductions of those seen in the first year plumage. There is great individual variation in the amount of "slate color " assumed during this year, but probably it increases as the season advances. The wings are not strikingly different from those of the first year. There are more conspicuous white tips on the tertials, secondaries, and inner primaries, and the coverts' contain more " slate color." The under- parts are largely or wholly white, increasingly so toward spring. The bill is lighter near the base and has a light tip. The third-year plumage shows about the same stage of advance toward maturity as the second year in the herring gull. The man- tle is now more than half " blackish slate " ; the wing-coverts, both greater and lesser, are still mottled with dusky and white, but there are many adult feathers among the mottled ones; the secondaries and tertials are as in the adult ; the primaries are black, tipped with white, and the outer primary now has a broad subterminal white space an inch and a half long. The tail is white, more or less varie- gated with dusky near the tip. The underparts are pure white, and so is the head, except for a few dusky streaks on the hind neck, which disappear before spring. The bill still shows traces of dusky. At the next postnuptial "molt, when a little over 3 years old, some birds probably assume the adult plumage, with the pure white tail, the complete dark mantle and the broad white tips of the primaries, which in the first primary measures 2J inches. But probably a large majority of the birds still retain traces of imma- turity in the primaries and the tail, which do not reach their full perfection until a year later; and apparently the white in the primaries increases a little at each succeeding molt until the maxi- mum is reached. Both adults and young have a complete postnuptial molt in August and, September, and an incomplete prenuptial molt during ihe winter and early spring. The adult, winter plumage differs from the nuptial only in having a few faint, narrow streaks of, dusky on the hind rifeck, which are more conspicuous in the younger birds and less so in the older ones. Fqqd.— The great black-backed gull is a voracious feeder, omnivor- ous, and not at all fastidious. On or about its breeding grounds it feeds largely on the eggs of, other birds, particularly sea birds, when it can find them unprotected, or upon the small young of such birds as are unable to defend them. Mr. M. A. Frazar (1887) describes its method of capturing young eiders as follows: Two or three gulls will hover over a brc-od in the water, which, of course, confuses the mother duck and scatters the brood in all, directions. Then, .by fpllpwing the ducklings after each dive, they would soon tire them out r and a skillfully directed blow at the base of the skull, which seldom missed its LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TERNS. 83 aim, would In an Instant finish the business, and, before the unhappy duck would know which way to turn, its brood would be one less. On several occa- sions I have seen the mother duck drawn several feet in the air by clinging to the gull as it .dove for its prey, and several times I have seen a venturesome " black-back " get knocked over with a charge of shot when he happened to get too interested in his pursuit and allow of my too close approach. He writes in the same paper that some of these gulls partially de- voured some cormorants which he had shot and allowed to drift on the water for a short time. It feeds largely on fish, but prob- ably seldom succeeds in catching them itself. It does not object to carrion, and will gorge itself on the carcass of a dead whale or pick up anything that it can find in the way of animal food along the shore. While wintering on our coasts it does its part as a scav- enger, feeding on floating garbage with other gulls. Mr. Cleaves contributes the following notes on its feeding habits : From remains discovered on the ground it was evident that the food of the birds consisted exclusively of fish and allied sea food. The greater portion of a large squid was once found where it had been abandoned, evidently by a fleeing youngster; and on another occasion we discovered a 10-inch mackerel that had been very little affected by the digestive juices of the old gull that had delivered it to her young. Lesser remains of fish were frequently found, and occasionally we came to bones where it would seem they had been dis- gorged in the shape of pellets. Hone of the food was secured in the fresh- water lake, but was obtained from the ocean, which lay more than 5 miles distant to the west. From early morning until late in the evening the old gulls were seen flying either toward the ocean or returning from it, their course being always the same. The birds traveled in companies of twos or threes, and while passing over the land barrier always sought an altitude which insured safety from any possible gunshot. Behavior. — The soaring flight of the great black-backed gull is majestic and grand in the extreme. It has been well likened to the flight of an eagle, for the resemblance to the king of birds is cer- tainly striking, as it floats in great circles high above its rocky home, the monarch of its tribe. When traveling its flight is slow and heavy, as might be expected in the largest of the gulls, but it is always strong, dignified, and protracted. Macgillivray (1852) writes : Its flight is strong, ordinarily sedate, less wavering and buoyant than that of smaller species, but graceful, effective, and even majestic. There, running a few steps and flapping its long wings, it springs into the air, wheels to either side, ascends, and on outspread and beautifully curved pinions hies away to some distant place. In advancing against a strong breeze it some- times proceeds straight forward, then shoots away in an oblique direction, now descends in a long curve so as almost to touch the water, then mounts on high. When it wheels about and sweeps down the wind its progress is extremly rapid. It walks with ease, using short steps, runs with considerable speed, and, like the other gulls, pats the sands or mud on the edge of the water with its feet. It generally rests standing on one foot, with its head drawn in ; but in a dry place it often reposes by laying itself down. 84 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. Although usually silent elsewhere, it is a very noisy bird on its breeding grounds, indulging in a variety of loud, harsh cries or raven-like croaks. It has a long drawn-out scream — Jeeeaaw-^-OJi a lower key than that of the herring gull. It also has a short, more quickly uttered note— how, how, how — very much like the other gulls; also a high pitched hi hi and a hoarse laughing ha, ha, .ha. Its courtship note is softer and more prolonged, sounding at times like howaat, but varied and modulated in a most human manner. Mr. Cleaves describes some of the vocal performances as follows: , There were few moments of the day or night when absolute silence prevailed in the colony. The sounds produced by the birds were varied, both in form and in volume, and ranging from the baby whine of the downy young to the great bellow or trumpet of a giant adult black-back standing above the lake on a 6-foot bowlder. The calls intermediate between these, two extremes were mostly variations of groans or kindred sounds, some of which were soft and to be heard only at short range. There were two cries, given perhaps with greater frequency than all others, which the writer can now recall with most distinctness. One was the mellow " kuk-kuk-kuk," uttered when the birds were disturbed and far aloft over the islands ; the other, the inspiring trumpeting bellow, emitted when the gulls were unmolested, and usually when standing on some prominence or on the open shore. Each syllable of the latter cry sounded like " oo " in " loon," given slowly and with comparative softness at first, but repeated slightly more rapidly as the call proceeded and the syllables gaining volume until, at the end, when the sound had been uttered 8 to 5L4 times, the noise wag tremendous at a range of only a few feet: The uproar caused by a chorus of 50 trumpeting gulls could no doubt be distinctly heard over the lake on an otherwise still morning at a range of a mile or morie. In producing this bellowing call a bird usually began on the introductory notes with his head lowered, raising it as the call advanced, until, at the finish, his open bill pointed toward the zenith and his neck was inflated from the force of his " challenge." Mr. Cleaves relates in his notes the following interesting incident: One pair of old birds, who apparently had but a single chick of probably two weeks, engaged in a curious performance only 3 feet from the wall of the blind. Amid rumbling sounds and. groanings from the parents and whining from the baby one of the old. birds picked from the beach a dried fern leaf and waded slowly and with apparent gravity into the lake with it until he was belly deep in the water. He then stopped and thrust his bill and its contents beneath the surface, moving his head rather vigorously from side to side as he did so. The female ( ?) followed a few paces behind with empty beak, and when she was a little way from the shore she submerged her entire head, holding it below for two or three seconds. After withdrawing it she took a step or two forward (following the first bird) and then immersed her head again. Throughout the entire ceremony the youngster whined, apparently for food, and waded as far in the wake of his elders as he could, with comfort, in the choppy waves. The bird carrying the fern then came slowly back to shore where his burden was dropped without further formality. Some minutes later, however, the same bird picked up a cast primary from the beach and reenacted almost the exact cere- mony through which he had gone with the dead fern, and the other members of U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 113 PL. 16 Lake George, Nova Scotia. H. H. Cleaves. Lake George, Nova Scotia. Great Black-Backed Gull. For description see page 330. H. H. Cleaves. LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TERNS. 85 the family repeated their parts of the act also. Whether all of this was mere play or whether it possessed a greater significance it would no doubt be difficult to determine. Winter. — About the middle of August, or as soon as the young are able to fly and care for themselves, these gulls leave their breeding grounds and wander about or start to migrate southward. They sometimes appear on the Massachusetts coast in August, though not regularly until September, where they are more or less common all winter until the second or third week in April. Dr. Charles W. Townsend (1905) records them as common on the coast of Essex County, Massachusetts, from July 17 to May 1, and says, " as early as July 17, 1904, 1 found seven adults in a flock of herring gulls on Ipswich Beach," though these may have been summer stragglers and not migrants from their breeding grounds farther north. Their normal winter range extends from southern Greenland to Delaware, with straggling records farther south. While wintering on our coasts they associate freely with the herring gulls, with which they seem to be on good terms, feeding with them on what refuse they can pick up in our harbors or along the shores. They are practically silent and not nearly so tyrannical as on their breeding grounds, though they may occasionally be seen chasing the other gulls and robbing them of their food. Adult birds can, of course, be easily recognized and the superior size of the immature birds is distinctive. While roosting on a sand bar or on floating ice a black-backed gull always looms up large in a flock of herring gulls. They are exceed- ingly shy at this season, and it is useless to attempt to approach them in an open situation. DISTRIBUTION. Breeding range. — Coasts and islands of northeastern North America and northern Europe. In the Western Hemisphere, from North Devon Island and central western Greenland (Disco) south- ward, along both coasts of Labrador to eastern Quebec (Godbout), Anticosti Island, Newfoundland (Sandy Lake), Nova Scotia (Pic- tou, Halifax, and Kentville) and Bay of Fundy (Isle au Haute). In the Eastern Hemisphere, Iceland, Shetland, and Faroe Islands, Scotland, and northern Europe east to eastern Eussia (Petchora Biver), and south to about 50° N. Winter range. — Begularly on the coast of the United States from Maine to New Jersey. More rarely north to southern Greenland and south to northern Florida (St. Augustine) and Bermuda. Occasionally south to Ohio (Columbus) and west to Michigan (De- 86 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. troit) on the Great Lakes. In Europe from Great Britain south to the Azores and Canary Islands, the Mediterranean, and the Black Sea. Spring migration, — Early dates of arrival: Newfoundland, St. Johns, March 1 ; Labrador, Eomaine, March 26, and Rigolet,' April 9. Late dates of departure : New York, Long Island, May 13 ; Mas- sachusetts, Boston, May 25, and Woods Hole, June 10. Non- breeding birds. linger on the coasts of New England late into or all through the summer. Fall migration. — Early dates of arrival, excluding summer strag- glers: Massachusetts, Woods Hole, September 24 (average October 8) ; Long Island, Orient, September 12 (average October 5). Late dates of departures: Greenland, Gothaab, September 3; eastern Labrador, November 2 ; Prince Edward Island, November 12 ; Nova Scotia, Pictou, December 13. Casual records. — Accidental in Nebraska (Missouri River, May, 1871), Kerguelen Island (June 5, 1840), and Japan (Hakodadi). Egg dates.— Quebec, Labrador: Twenty records, May 25 to June 28 ; ten records, June 5 to 15. Nova Scotia : Fifteen records, May 15 to June 13 ; eight records, May 22 to 27. Great Britain : Eleven records, April 28 to July 20; six records, May 20 to June 1. Ice- land: Three records, May 18 and 28, and June 6. LARUS SCHISTISAGUS Stejneger. SLATY-BACKED GULL. HABITS. Dr. Leonhard Stejneger (1885) has demonstrated, by an exhaustive treatise on the subject, that this is a well-marked species, although one can not read his remarks without realizing how much confusion has arisen over the nomenclature and relationships of the Laridae. In both size and color it is intermediate between the great black- backed gull and the western gull; bu£ its best and most constant character is the color pattern of the primaries, which Doctor Stejne- ger has well described and illustrated. It is an Asiatic Species, with its center of abundance in northeastern Siberia, which has established a slight foothold on some of the islands of Bering Sea and in north- ern Alaska, chiefly as a straggler. It may eventually become better established in Alaska, as several other Asiatic species have done. Spring. — Doctor Stejneger (1885) first saw it on Bering Island, in the Commander Islands, but afterwards found it common near Petro- paulski, Kamchatka. Mr. N. G. Buxton's notes, published by Dr. LIFE HISTOBIES OF NORTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TERNS. 87 J. A. Allen (1905), give the best life history of the species in that region. He writes: This is the most conspicuous and one of the most abundant birds along the Okhotsk Sea. From the time of its arrival until it departs there is scarcely a time when one can not either hear or see one or more of these birds. The first arrivals are usually reported about the 20th of April, and from that time on they increase in numbers daily until May 1, when they have nearly all arrived. From the time of their arrival until the nesting season begins they make daily excursions up the rivers in the morning and return to their roosting places along the seacoast in the evening. They go up the Gichiga River at this time as far as Christova, 30 miles above its mouth. Also at this time many may be seen soaring in large circles high over the tundra and marsh above the mouth of the river, when they utter a cry very similar to that of the red-tailed hawk during the breeding season. None of the dark phase are seen among the earlier arrivals, but by the 15th of May they begin to appear, and increase in numbers until they have all arrived, although at no time during the spring and early summer do they form any considerable per cent of the thousands that one sees. Before the ice goes out of the head of the bay and river, their food supply is limited to the few dead salmon which the melting snow exposes on the gravel bars along the river beds and the mussels they pick from the rocks along the seacoast at low tide. Nesting. — By the first of June all of the breeders have repaired to the rugged seacoast and rocky islets lying off it, below the mouth of the river, to breed. Only the roughest and most inaccessible places are chosen for nesting sites, generally at the headlands, where sections of the solid rocks have been partly or wholly separated from the mainland. The nests, which are loose, bulky structures, composed of grass and with but a slight depression in the center, are placed on ledges and the tops of rocks. Three eggs constitute a set, and they show the usual large variation in color and size found in the eggs of other species of Larus. The height of the nesting season is reached about June 10, when the koraks visit their rookeries and obtain large numbers of their eggs by being lowered down the cliffs with sealskin lines. Many more breeders spend the summer on the bars and along the marsh near the mouth of the river, and on the gravel bars along its bed. Rev. W. F. Henninger (1910) refers to three sets of eggs of the slaty-backed gull, containing three, two, and one eggs, respectively, that were " taken on the coast of Siberia, near the Bering Strait, on June 4, 1905. The nest was a mere depression or hollow in some moss." There are two sets, of three eggs each, in Col. John E. Thayer's collection, taken by Capt. H. H. Bodfish in Harrowby Bay, on the Arctic coast of northwestern Canada, June 11, 1901. The nests are described as made of grass, roots, and mud and lined with dry grass ; they were placed on a point making into the bay. The parent birds were collected and the skins were identified by Mr. Robert Ridgway and Dr. A. K. Fisher- These are probably authentic sets, though they were taken outside of the previously known breeding range of the species. 174785—21 7 88 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. Eggs.— These two sets might easily be matched with eggs of some of the commoner species of Larus. The shape is practically ovate and the ground color is " Isabella color." They are more or less evenly covered with small spots of "clove brown," "blackish brown," " sepia," and "bister," as well as several shades of" brownish drab." Two eggs in the writer's collection, from the Asiatic coast, show other extremes of coloration. The darker one has a ground color of " Saccardo's umber" and is spotted with "blackish brown" and " brownish drab ;" the lighter one has a " deep olive-buff " ground color and is spotted with " snuff brown," " bister," and several shades of " brownish drab," some very light and some very dark shades. The measurements of 34 eggs, in various collections, average 74 by 51.5 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 81 by 52, 77 by 54, 67.1 by 50 and 72 by 48 millimeters. Plumages. — I have never seen the downy young of this species, nor can I find any description of it in print., The sequence of molts and plumages, so far as can be learned from the limited amount of material available for study, is practically the same as in the great black-backed gull. Young birds during the first fall and winter are darker than those of the commoner species, particularly on the under- pays, which are nearly uniform dusky. Behavior. — For the remainder of the life history of this little- known species I must again quote from Mr. Buxton's notes, as follows : After the nesting season is over, about the 1st of August, the breeders and young of the year join the nonbreeders and they all spend the rest of the season in flying up and down the river, collecting in large flocks along the water fronts and gorging themselves on the worn-out, salmon that they find there. At this time they begin to fly up the river at 2 or S o'clock in the morning, continuing: to fly until the middle of the forenoon, and then begin the return flight at 5 p. m., and continue to fly until long after dark, which does not occur at that time until 10 or 11. p. m. -They are so abundant that on these flights there is one continuous long, loose flock of. them without any considerable break or inter- mission. The height of the return flight is from 6 to 8 p. m. When the wind is strong they fly high, but when it is calm' they fly low and are easily attracted. When one is killed on the wing, or a decoy is thrown Into the air, all the gulls in the vicinity will immediately " land about " and circle once or twice over the dead bird or decoy, changing their usual guttural cackle to hoarse " squeals" of alarm before, proceeding on their way. I have often seen them attempt to take a fish from the mouth of a seal when it arose to the surface and which the gull had been watching catch the fish. By the 1 last of August one dark or young one is seen to every four or five adult or white ones, and later the propor- tion of the dark ones is much higher, as the adults begin to leave first. By the 1st of October the migration is well advanced, and decreases daily until by the 15th of October few remain, although the last of them do not leave until the last week of the month. They are the last of the migrants to leave in the falL LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TERNS. 89 DISTRIBUTION. Breeding range.i—Aai&tic coasts of North Pacific and Bering Sea ; from northern Japan (Yezzo), Kurile Islands, Kamchatka, and shores of Sea of Okhotsk north to Gulf of Anadyr and vicinity of Bering Straits. The breeding record from Harrowby Bay, Arctic coast of Canada, appears to be authentic, although far outside of the known breeding range. Winter range.— So far as known, only from Japan to the Kurile Islands. Spring migration. — Migrants recorded at Commander Islands, Bering Island, April 20 to May 5 ; Copper Island, June 13 ; Sakhalin Island, May 11. They arrive on their breeding grounds in the Anadyr district by April 20. Fall migration. — During migration birds occur along the Alaskan coast, Diomede Islands, September; off Nome, August 31 to Septem- ber 8; St. Michael, September 9; Port Clarence, Sakhalin Island, late September. The last birds leave the Anadyr district late in October. Casual records.— Stragglers have been recorded at Herald Island (Bidgway), Unalaska (Chernofsky Bay, October 1, 1880), and taken in Mackenzie (Franklin Bay, June 9, 1901). Egg dates.— Japan: Eight records, May 23 to June 18; four rec- ords, May 29 to June 15. LARUS OCCIDENTALS Audubon. WESTEBN GULL. HABITS. Along the numerous beaches of the California coast the dark-mantled western gull is the most conspicuous and the most universally abun- dant sea bird throughout the whole year, everywhere much in evi- dence and everywhere tame and familiar— a welcome visitor as a useful scavenger and a pretty feature in the seashore scenery. The immaculate purity of its snow-white plumage is kept spotlessly clean, in spite of its untidy feeding habits. As we see these beautiful black and white birds sailing along the ocean cliffs they seem to reflect the clear freshness of the beach and sea and sky; and as we see them walking daintily on their long legs over the clean sand it seems incongruous to associate them with the struggling screaming mob of hungry birds that we have just seen fighting for and gorging themselves on the refuse from the sewers or the garbage dumps. During my stay at Redondo Beach, in June, T spent considerable time watching ' these ' interesting and familiar birds. There were) always plenty of them to be seen flying along 1 the beach or resting 90 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. in groups on the flat, smooth sand, adults and young in several dif- ferent stages of plumage, and generally a few Heermann's gulls were mingled with them. It was in the height of the breeding season and I wondered whether the adults had nests on the islands off the coast or were birds that were not breeding that season. Some of them were standing on one leg, with bills tucked under their scapu- lars, sound asleep ; but more of them were resting on their breasts. One old male seemed to be the boss of the beach and acted as a disturber of the peace by walking around, driving off the Heermann's gulls and waking up all the gulls that were asleep, making them move on, as a policeman does with loafers on a sidewalk. One was seen playing with a feather, picking it up, letting it blow away and running after it again, as if he enjoyed the fun. Occasionally one would walk down to the surf line to pick up a morsel of food, to drink or to bathe, and return to dry land to preen its feathers. They were tamer than any large gulls I had ever seen. I had no difficulty in shooting them, picking out the exact plumage that I wanted to complete my series. As soon as one was shot a flock gathered about me, hovering over my head with intimate curiosity ; and while walking along the beach with dead gulls in my hand there were always several following me, close at hand. Even about the much-frequented wharves they were very unsuspicious, standing on the posts and railings within 10 or 15 feet of numerous human beings, in whom they justly had perfect confidence, for they are never molested. About the fish houses, where men were cleaning fish, they were particularly familiar, standing in rows along the roofs, or on the stringers waiting for the offal to be thrown into the water. No one seemed to notice them at all, but to me it was a novel and interesting sight. There was a time when persistent egging on the Farallones was reducing the population of western gulls, but since that has been stopped they are increasing again. They are probably not much disturbed on their breeding grounds and are generally protected. Hence they have become familiar and useful birds on the coast, but they are more of ajnuisance than ever on the islands where they do so much damage to other species. Spring. — As this gull is practically a resident throughout its range, it has no well-marked migration. The spring migration merely amounts to a .concentration pn iijs breeding grounds or a withdrawal, and only a partial one at that, from its somewhat wider winter range. In the southern portion of its breeding range in Lower California this occurs early in March, in southern California in April, and correspondingly later farther north. It retreats in the spring from the Puget Sound region to the northern limit of its U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 113 PL. 17 Farallon Islands. O. J. Heinemanii. Humboldt County, California. Western Gull. For description see paqe 331. W. L. Dawson. LIFE HISTOBIES OF NORTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TERNS. 91 breeding range in the bird reservations on the coast of Washington, where it mingles with the glaucous- winged gull at the southern limit of the latter's breeding range. Nesting. — Dawson (1909) says that the northernmost colony of unmixed occidentalis on the Washington coast is on Willoughby Rock, off Cape Elizabeth; "but scattered pairs occur, along with glaucous wings, as far up as Carroll Islet." He says of its nesting habits : Nesting is undertaken in May, and by the 20th of that month, or by June 10 at the latest, the complement of three eggs is laid. Nests are composed almost exclusively of dried grasses plucked by the birds, roots and all ; and these be- come quite substantial structures if the grass is convenient. Ledges, crannies, grassy hill sides, and the exposed summits of the rocks are alike utilized for nesting sites; while occasionally a bird ventures down so close to the tide line as to lose her eggs in time of storm. Chicks are brought oft by the third week in June or by the 1st of July, according to season, if unmolested. If the first set is removed, however, the birds will prepare a second, consisting almost in- variably of two eggs, and these are deposited as likely as not in the same nest as the former set. Deposition occurs at intervals of two or three days. On the Three Arch Rocks, Oregon, Mr. W. L. Finley (1905) de- scribes the nesting of this species as follows : The gull picks out a comfortable spot and builds a respectable nest, and that is about the only creditable thing he does on the rock. The grass-covered roof of the island is his favorite nesting place, although many select the niches in the bare rock on the face of the cliff. The gull's eggs lie right out in the open and never seem to be bothered by other birds; they themselves do not ravage the homes of their own kindred. The eggs are of dull earthy and chocolate- brown tints, with darker blotches, matching their surroundings so perfectly that we had to be constantly on the lookout to keep from stepping on them. When the eggs were hatched we found the nestlings were protected by equally deceptive clothes of a mottled gray color. The best known breeding grounds of the species are on the Faral- lon Islands, which have been well described by several writers. According to Mr. W. Otto Emerson, who sent some original notes on the subject to Major Bendire, the gulls begin building or repairing their old nests about May 1, and the nesting season is prolonged through May and June. The nests are built wholly of dry Farallon weed, Baeria maritima, the old nests being used year after year. After being robbed the birds soon begin laying again, and he noted, by watching a certain nest, that an egg was laid every other day. Mr. Milton S. Ray (1904) has given us the following good account of the Farallon colonies : While this bird builds in colonies, so to speak, they are not like those of the cormorant or murre. There is always fighting room between the nests, and only the aggregations near Shell Beach, Indian Head, and at Guano Slope on West End, and about Tower Point on East End, could well deserve this term. 92 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. Besides these places we found them breeding in scattered congregations all along the rocky terrace west of the Jordan, from the shore to the highest points. On the east, in addition to the rookery at Tower Point, we observed a dozen isolated nests at Bull Head Point, near Arch Rock, and about half that number right at the Weather Bureau observatory, where, rewarded for their confidence in man, they brooded unmolested. The great mass of driftwood, thrown up by winter storms, was a favorite spot in the Shell Beach ropkery. We did not, however, observe any of these birds nesting off the main island. While they are somewhat wary, many allowed us to come quite close before rising from their nests. The latter are placed in natural basinlike hollows among the rocks, by which they are partially sheltered, although some were in the most open and windy situations. The nest is a bulky structure, composed of various dry island weeds and grasses, and has about as much claim to ingenuity as those of most sea birds. They vary little in size,- averaging 13 inches across, the cavity being 8 inches by 4 deep. About many of them I noticed small heaps of ejected fishbones. Mr. Brewster (1902) says of the nesting habits of this species in the Cape Region of Lower California:, Mr. Frazar found a breeding colony of about 25 . pairs on a small rocky island a little to the westward of Carmen Island. Most of the nests were only just begun, and but ;two contained eggs, one set, however, comprising the full complement of three. This was on March 13— a date about two months earlier than that at which the first eggs are usually taken on the Farallon Islands near San Francisco. The nest day another breeding ground was discovered on the northern end of the island of Montserrat. Here some 50 pairs had congregated. Few of their nests were finished and only eight contained eggs, the number in each set varying from one to three. At both of the places just mentioned the nests, which were made of seaweed, were built at the foot of the cliffs, just above high-'water mark, and often in nooks or crevices. Although the nest may be frequently robbed and several sets of eggs may be laid, only, one brood of young is raised in a season. The normal set consists of three eggs, though two eggs often constitute a full set in the later layings, and sometimes a single egg is incubated. Sets of four eggs are rare. Eggs. — The eggs of the western gull can not be distinguished with certainty from those of other gulls of similar size, and they are subject to the usual variations. The ground, color is " buffy brown," " tawny olive," " cinnamon buff," " deep olive buff," or " pale olive buff." They are Usually heavily spotted, blotched, or scrawled, more or less evenly, with " clove brown," " bister," " burnt umber," and various lighter shades of brown, as well as various shades of " Quaker drab " and " mouse gray." The measurements of 70 eggs, in various collections, average 72.4 by 50.4 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 78 by 47, 73 by 53, 67.5 by 48 and 78 by 47 millimeters. Yotmg. — Mr. Emerson gives the period of incubation as 24 days. He says that both sexes take turns at the duties of incubation, but there are no set times for relieving each other. The bird which is U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 113 PL. 18 FaTallon Islands. O. J. Heinemann. Los Coronados Islands, California. Western Gull. For description see page 331. LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TERNS. 93 off duty usually stands near the nest, on guard, slipping onto the nest when the sitting bird leaves. The young remain in the nest for a few days and are brooded by their parents, who are very bold and devoted in their defense. The young gulls soon learn to run about, becoming very lively, and are taught by their parents to become ex- perts in the art of hiding. Mr. Finley (1905) says : They teach their young to keep hidden and to lie close. I have seen more than one gull impress this upon her children. One day I was walking along a ledge and came abruptly to a place where I could look down the top slope. Below me a few yards I saw two half -grown gulls ; one crouched beside a rock, but the other started to run down the ridge He hadn't gone 2 yards before the mother dove at him with a blow that knocked him rolling. He got up dazed and struck off In a new direction, but she swooped again and rapped him on the head till he seemed glad enough to crawl in under the nearest weed. Occasionally we found the gulls very pugnacious. There was one mother that had a nest of three young birds on a narrow ledge, and every time the photographer approached her nest she would dart at him. She swooped at his head with a loud bark, something like a watchdog ; at 6 or 8 feet distant she dropped her legs and took a sharp clip with her feet. Twice she knocked the hat from the intruder's head. Mr. Dawson (1909) visited a colony of this species in July and found that: Young birds, from infants to those half grown, were in hiding everywhere. The danger sign had, of course, been passed around, and not a youngster on the island but froze In his tracks, no matter where he happened to be. It was pathetic to find, as I did now and then, babes soaking heroically in the filthy green pools left in hollows of the rocks by ancient rains rather than attract attention by scrambling out. One youngster had evidently been nibbling playfully at a bit of driftwood cast high up, for I found him with the stick between his mandibles as motionless as a Pompelan mummy. So bold and solicitous were the anxious mothers in the defense of their young that he was struck three times upon the head, always from behind, by vicious beaks while engaged in gathering up babies for a picture. The young gulis are fed at first on semidigested foods, but their parents soon begin to feed them on small fish and other animal food. They become more omnivorous in their diet as they grow older, and are very voracious feeders. Their parents keep watchful guard over them until they are able to fly and will not let them attempt this hazardous feat until the proper time comes. Mr. A. B. Howell has noted that "if when full grown but still timid on their wings, they are thrown into the air, they will essay unsteady flight and are sure to be pounced upon by their elders, who, for some reason or other, knock the youngsters heels over head as long as they remain in the air " — a decided hint that the time for flight has not arrived. 94 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. Plumages.— The downy young is "drab gray" above variegated with " avellaneous " or other shades of buff. Some individuals are grayer and others are brighter buff in color. The lower parts are lighter colored, paling to "tilleul buff" on the center of the breast; sometimes the breast is bright, clear, " avellaneous " buff in newly hatched young, the colors fading as the youngster grows. The back is heavily spotted with " fuscous black," and the head and throat with pure black. By the time that it is fully grown, at an age of about 2 months, the young bird has assumed its juvenal or first real plumage, in which it is heavily mottled above with "hair brown" and pale "avellaneous"; the feathers of the lower back and the scapulars are "clove brown " centrally, broadly edged with " avellaneous " or " wood brown " ; the cheeks are plain " hair brown " ; and the crown is " hair brown " streaked with " light buff." This plumage is worn but a short time and is replaced in the fall by the first winter plumage, which is acquired by a partial molt, involving part, or perhaps all, of the contour feathers, but not the wings and tail, I am inclined to think that part of this change is effected by wear and fading of the brown edgings. The first winter plumage, deep blackish brown, mottled with gray- ish white, with the uniform dark primaries and rectrices, and with the bill wholly dusky, is worn throughout the first year or until the first postnuptial molt, when the bird is about 13 or 14 months old. A complete molt then occurs, at which time the slaty blue mantle is, at least partially, acquired ; and the bill becomes yellow on the basal half. The new primaries are still wholly black and the tail wholly black or mottled with white near the base. The contour feathers or head and underparts are still mottled with dusky, but become lighter during the year by wear and fading. There is much brown still remaining in the wing-coverts. During the second spring there is a steady advance toward maturity, with great individual variation, the molt beginning as early as April in some cases. At this second postnuptial molt, which is complete, the wings of the adult, with black primaries tipped with white, are acquired, but there is sometimes more or less brown in the wing coverts ; the tail becomes white with a subterminal black bar ; the white body plumage ap- pears, though it is much clouded with dusky in the fall ; and the bill still remains dark at the tip. The fully adult plumage seems to be acquired perhaps a year later, when the bird is 3 years of age; this, of course, is characterized by the pure white tail and the yellow bill. Some birds, otherwise adult, during the fourth winter, have more or less dusky mottling in the tail, and some lack the subapical white spot, or have only a small one, on the outer primary. As these birds and those with the black-banded tail and brown wing coverts LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TERNS. 95 are comparatively rare, it may be that these are merely backward or less vigorous birds, and that normally vigorous birds acquire their fully adult plumage when 3 years old. I am inclined to think that this is so, but, as I am not sure of it, I have given what seem to be the facts in the case. The seasonal molts of the adult consist of a complete postnuptial molt in the summer and a partial molt about the head and neck in the spring. In spite of statements in some of the books to the contrary, adults have the heads streaked with dusky in the fall, which markings disappear by wear or fading, or perhaps by molt, before spring. Food. — Before the encroachments of civilization gave the western gull an easy way of earning its living as a scavenger, its principal food supply was gleaned from the sea; it followed the schools of small fish in flocks, hovering, screaming, and struggling for its prey in strenuous competition. When its appetite was satisfied a game of tag sometimes ensued, such as Mr. J. H. Bowles (1909) described as follows : One catches a herring, and instead of eating it flies with the fish hanging from its bill, past three or four comrades. These accept the challenge and rush madly after, while the pursued goes through all sorts of evolutions in seeking to elude them. If overtaken, the order of chase is reversed, and the game goes merrily on until all are tired. The fish, or tag trophy, is not eaten but is dropped upon the playground in a condition decidedly the worse for wear. Although fish still form a large part of its food, especially about its breeding grounds, it is primarily a scavenger, like the other large gulls, and has learned to frequent harbors and populated shores, where it can easily gorge itself on the garbage dumping grounds, pick up unsavory morsels at the outlets of sewers, and feed on whatever refuse it can find scattered along the beaches. It also follows vessels to pick up whatever scraps of food are thrown over- board. It feeds at low tide on the sand flats, mud banks, river shores, and mussel beds, where it finds dead fish, clams, seaworms, dead rats, or any kind of fresh animal food or carrion. It under- stands how to break the shells of a clam or a sea urchin by flying up into the air with it and dropping it on hard ground or on a rock, sometimes making several attempts before succeeding. Mr. Walter E. Bryant (1888) says of its feeding habits: The gulls are indiscriminate feeders; in addition to their usual articles of diet, they subsist largely upon eggs during the summer. They do not eat the eggs of their own species, nor do they trouble the cormorants after the murres have commenced laying. Sea-urchins, crabs, young murres, and rabbits, and fish stolen from the cormorants' nests are eaten. Not being quick enough to swoop upon the rabbits they catch them by patient watching at their burrows, and will patiently try for 15 minutes to swallow a squealing young rabbit, and finally fly away with the hind feet protruding. The dead bodies of murres are also eaten; they detach pieces of flesh by backing away and dragging the body, meanwhile shaking their heads, till a piece breaks off. 96 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. Perhaps the most important food supply of the western gull on its breeding grounds consists of the eggs of other birds, near which it almost always nests. The sagacity displayed by the gulls ia taking advantage of the human egg hunters is well described by Dr. A. L. Heermann (1859) as follows: At 1 o'clock every day, during the egg season, Sundays and Thursdays ex- cepted (this is to give the birds some little respite), the egg hunters meet on the south side of the island. The roll is called to see that all are present, that each one may have an equal chance in gathering the spoil. , The signal is given, every man starting off at a full run for the most productive egging grounds. The gulls understanding, apparently, what is about to occur, are on the alert,' hovering overhead and awaiting only the advance of the party. The men rush eagerly into the rookeries; the affrighted murres have scarcely risen from their nests before the gull, with remarkable instinct, not to say almost reason, flying but a few paces ahead, of the hunter, alights on the ground, tapping such eggs as the short time will allow before the egger comes up with him. The broken eggs are passed by the men, who remove only those which are sound. The gull then returning to the field of its exploits, procures a plentiful supply of Its favorite food. I have repeatedly seen this gull drink salt water, and I believe that all ocean gulls do so, though I have heard it stated that they prefer fresh water. They do not, however, like their food too salt, as the following instance, related by Mr. A. W. Anthony (1906) will illustrate: I was one day watching some western gulls, a few yards from me on a wharf, when a. large piece of salted fish was thrown out from an adjacent boathouse. It fairly glistened with a thick incrustation of salt, and I was somewhat curious to see if the gulls would eat food so highly seasoned. No sooner had it fallen than it was seized upon by a gull and as quickly swallowed ; but from the surprised actions of the bird it was evidently not to his liking; no sooner had it reached the stomach than it was ordered out again. Dropping the fish on the wharf the bird eyed it for a moment, turning its head from side to side, and, to judge from its soliloquy, made a number of uncomplimentary remarks on the depraved tastes of mankind that would spoil good fish in that manner. Then picking up the fish it flew down to the water, and holding it under the surface shook its head from side to side violently " sozzeling " the meat about for several seconds. It was then taken back to the wharf, laid down and in- spected, and carefully sampled; this time, however, it was not bolted as at first, but held for a moment In the mouth and again rejected, and carried back to the water, where it was even more roughly laundered. This operation was repeated several times; and the piece of fish, which must have weighted 4 ounces at the outset, was reduced to half that size before it reached a state of freshness that suited the palate of the gull. Behavior. — The flight of the western gull is not unlike that of other closely related species ; it has the same power of sailing directly into the wind, or within a few points of it, on motionless wings. I have seen it travel for long distances in this manner without any apparent effort. It also has the same soaring habits as other large gulls, rising to great heights and circling about on outstretched LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TEENS. 97 pinions, as if enjoying the exercise. While soaring it occasionally preens the feathers of its breast with its bill or raises one foot to scratch its head, without losing its poise. Once, while sailing before a strong wind, almost a gale, a lot of these gulls were following us to pick scraps of food which we were throwing overboard; it was necessary for them to face the wind and drift along tail' foremost, so as to keep pace with our boat ; they were not sailing or drifting, but were maintaining their positions by constant flapping and were ap- parently flying backwards. While flying the feet are extended back- wards and buried in the plumage, but when about to alight they are dropped and spread. A sudden descent from a considerable height is quickly accomplished by a spiral or a zigzag glide, on half ex- tended wings, with frequent quick tipping from side to side. The cries and call notes of this gull are much like those of other species. Mr. Charles A. Keeler (1892) has given a good descrip- tion of them, as follows : Their most common note may be expressed by the syllables quock kuck kuck kuck, uttered very rapidly In a low, guttural tone. Sometimes it was varied thus kuck kuck kuck ka, the quality of tone being the same as in the first instance. Frequently a higher cry would be heard, which may be indicated by the letters ki aa, with a strong accent on the first syllable. Again, one would utter a rattling, guttural cry, which sounded like a man being throttled. The behavior of western gulls toward their neighbors is truly scandalous. They must be cordially hated and seriously dreaded by the various species among which they nest, for they are arrant thieves, ever on the alert to improve every opportunity to steal and devour any unprotected eggs or young which they can find. They usually select a breeding place among nesting colonies of cormorants, murres, or pelicans, chiefly because they can there find an abundant food supply in the nests of their peaceful neighbors. Cormorants, being rather shy, are easily driven from their nests by human in- truders and do not readily return, so that the gulls often succeed in cleaning out a whole colony. Eternal vigilance is the price of suc- cess in rearing a brood with such rogues roaming about and looking for the slightest chance. The cormorants and pelicans have to sit on their eggs constantly from the day they are laid, or the gulls will get them. This will account for the fact that the young in the nests of these species are often of widely differently ages. Even the young have to be constantly brooded, for the gulls will swallow the smallest young whole and mutilate or beat to death the larger ones. Mr. A. W. Anthony (1906) has graphically described this perforance as follows: The advent of man in the region of a cormorant rookery is hailed with de- light by every gull on the island, but to the poor cormorant it is a calamity of the darkest hue, As the frightened birds leave the nests, which have so far never been for a moment left without the protection of at least one of the 98 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. parents, the screaming gulls descend in swarms to break and eat the eggs or kill the young, as the case may be. Small cormorants are bolted entire, despite their somewhat half-hearted protest ; larger birds are dismembered by two gulls assisting in the operation, after the well-known manner of barnyard chicks with a worm ; and before the adult cormorants have recovered from their fright and returned to protect their homes a colony of several hundred nests will be almost destroyed. I have found young western gulls feasting on cormorant squabs half a mile or more from the nests from which they had been abducted. Mr. A. B. Howell writes : These robbers are surely the pest of their range during the spring months. When the pelicans and cormorants are flushed from their nests, down comes a devastating army of the marauders, spearing the eggs with their bills and neatly devouring them on the wing, pecking holes in the skulls of the young pelicans for the fun of it, and bolting the shiny cormorant chicks with a great gulping and show of satisfaction. A favorite pastime of theirs is to pester a half grown pelican until the latter relinquishes his last meal as a peace offering, and this the gulls greedily fight over. The gulls themselves have few enemies, except man, and now that egging has been practically stopped they are free to increase and flourish. Winter. — After the breeding season is over and the young gulls have become strong on the wing, they begin to scatter and spread out all along the coast, extending the winter range of the species northward to Puget Sound, where it is one of the common winter gulls. They are given to wandering at this season, following the ves- sels up and down the coast, chasing schools of fish, feasting on the garbage dumps, roosting on the islands at night, "and associating freely with other species of gulls, cormorants, pelicans, and other sea birds. DISTRIBUTION. Breeding range. — Pacific coast of North America, from British Columbia and Washington (various islands off the coast) southward along the coasts of Oregon, California, and Lower California, on nearly all suitable islands, at least as far as Cerros and Guadalupe Islands ; also in the Gulf of California (San Pedro Martir, Ildefonso y and Carmen Islands). Breeding grounds protected in the following national reservations : In California, Farallon Islands; in Oregon, Three Arch Rocks; in Washington, Copalis Bock and Quillayute Needles, as Carroll Islet. Winter range. — Practically resident throughout its breeding range. North in winter to British Columbia and south to southwestern Mexico (Isabella and Tres Marias Islands, Tepic). Egg dates. — Farallon Islands: Fifty-five records, May 12 to July 10; twenty-eight records, June 3 to 24. Coronados Islands: Ten rec- ords, May 6 to June 30 ; five records, May 11 to June 4. Washington : Seven records, June 3 to July 12 ; four records, June 3 to 14. Gulf of California : Three records, April 5, 6, and 7. LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TERNS. 99 LARUS FUSCUS AFFINIS Reinhardt. BEITISH LESSEE BLACK-BACKED GULL. HABITS. The Siberian gull is no longer entitled to a place on our list, which it has held ever since the type specimen of Larus ccffmis was taken in Greenland and described by Eeinhardt. The lesser black-backed gull of Europe and Asia has been subdivided into three subspecies — Larus fuscus fuscus Linnaeus of northern Europe, Scandinavia, etc.; Larus fuscus affmis Eeinhardt of the British Isles, Faroes, and Greenland; and Larus fuscus antelius Iredale of Siberia. Bein- hardt's bird, the type of Larus afflnis and the bird which occurs as a straggler in Greenland was, until recently, supposed to be of the Siberian form. But Iredale has recently examined Eeinhardt's type specimen and found it to be referable to the British form, the well- known lesser black-backed gull. He therefore gave a new name to the Siberian form, which necessitated the above rearrangement of the group, and makes it necessary for us to eliminate the Siberian gull from our list and enter in place of it the British lesser black- backed gull (Larus fuscus affinis Eeinhardt). Nesting. — This well-known gull occurs in Great Britain, both as migrant and as a resident, throughout the year. Much has been written about its habits. Dr. Henry O. Forbes (1898) writes of its breeding habits : In May the lesser black-backed gulls select their nesting place, betaking them- selves, as Macgillivray states, " to unfrequented islands, headlands, and some- times Inland lakes (and mosses), often in considerable numbers, and there remain until their young are able to fly, although they make extensive ex- cursions around in search of food." On the Teifl Bog, in mid-Wales, about 12 miles from the sea, the nests are placed "on slight hillocks, generally in deep heather, the vicinity, with trampled grass and scattered feathers, being suggestive of a goose green" (Salter). "In Hoy (in the Orkneys) anyone," writes Mr. Moodie-Heddle to Harvie-Brown, " can create a breeding place of the lesser black-backed gull' by burning a large tract late in the season; the gulls then come on the bare ground (through the following summer and autumn) to catch moths and winged insects, which have no heather left to go down into. They then usually begin to' breed on the tufts of white moss left unburnt the following season. The breeding places by the water of Hoy and down to Pegal Burn were thus formed by accidental fires. No gulls bred there for many years before, and We could kill 60 to 70 brace more grouse. In Iona, Mr. Graham notes that this gull made its nest on the flat, marshy summits of all the lesser islands. The nest is sometimes on the bare rock, but more often on a grassy slope, 'if such exist near. The most remarkable situa- tion ,for a nest, perhaps, is that cited by Doctor Sharpe, which was placed in the middle of a sheep track, and the sheep, in passing to and fro, had to jump over the back; of the sitting bird. This nest (with its four eggs) is now in the British Museum. 100 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. This species breeds in colonies, which in some places are very large, when their nests are placed, so close to each other, that it is by no means easy to traverse their nursery without treading upon either the eggs or young. The nest, if on the ground, is little more than a scraped out hollow in the ground, lined with grass, seaweed, or herbage of any kind within reach; if on a rock, a larger pile of the same substances is built up in the selected niche or ledge. It is not at all uncommon to find the herring gull nesting in close proximity to it, only, however, in the more inaccessible ledges or summits. Three eggs are laid as a rule — four occasionally, sometimes only two — which vary very greatly in size, shape, and color. Many of them are hardly, if ever certainly/ to be distinguished from those of the herring gull. They vary in size from 2f to 3 inches in length, by If to 2 in diameter. Ground color, from very pale gray, through olive-brown to greenish-blue or chocolate-brown, spotted and blotched, often more abundantly at the greater end, with black or dark brown. From the end of May, through June and into July, eggs and chicks of all stages and ages may be found. Eggs. — Bev. F, C. E. Jourdain has sent me the following measure- ments of eggs of this gull from the British Isles : Eighty eggs aver- age 68.04 by 47.39 millimeters ; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 77.1 by 49, 72^5 by 52.1, 58.6 by 45 and 61.3 by 43 milli- meters. Young. — Doctor Forbes (1898) says of the young: After about three weeks' incubation the chicks break through their prison, as lively and nimble balls of down, grayish-buff above, with the head, neck, and back spotted with brown; the under side paler and unspotted. On the least intrusion on their cubicle they are ready to be off — running, as Mr. Battye remarks, head down and shoulders up like a falcon — to the nearest herbage or water for security ; but if left undisturbed they may be found for a fortnight or more in the nest, most assiduously tended by the parents. The approach of any intruder when the. helpless young are in the nests is the signal to set the whole of the colony on wing,, wheeling round, his head, swooping down upon and screaming at him. ., Plumages. — When fledged, the bill, legs,, and feet are livid corneous. The feathers, which are white in the adult, have a center streak, or a bar of ashy- brown, and pale edges ; and where black they are reddish-brown, with yellowish- white edges. ,The wing feathers are sooty or black, and the tail is mottled with brown, which, near the end, becomes, almost a continuous bar, the tips of the feathers being grayish-white; the bill is horn color, and the legs and feet brownish-white. During its first autumn the bird undergoes no true molt, but the brown becomes less marked in. some parts by loss of pigment, and more uniform through the wearing off, of the , pale , tips. In the, next spring there, is a more general but slow molt, in which the brown, comes in of a less deep shade, an.[ . Casual records.^-The type specimen was taken in Greenland, which is the only North American record. 102 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. LARUS ABGENTATU9 Pontoppidan. HEEEING GTTLL. HABITS. Contributed by Charles Wetidell Tovmsend. The most widely distributed sea gull of the Northern Hemisphere and the one that is best known because it frequents the haunts of man, visiting his most populous harbors,, is the herring gull. But slightly inferior in size to the great black-backed and burgomaster gulls, it is distinguished from the former by its pearly gray back and from the latter by the black tips to its wings. Not only is it a bird familiar to those dwelling along the seacoast and to the voyagers on the ocean, but it is found about lakes and rivers. Owing to better protection given to breeding colonies, which were formerly systemati- cally robbed of their eggs, and to the fact that the birds are not molested in the neighborhood of large cities, the herring gull has not only held its own, but is undoubtedly on the increase. Circumpolar in distribution the herring gull breeds from Elles- mere Land to Manitoba and Maine, and in Europe to northern France and the White Sea. It winters wherever there is open water throughout its range, and as far south as Cuba and the Mediter- ranean Sea. In northern regions the return of open water in the spring often determines the arrival of these gulls as well as of other water birds. An interesting example of this is shown in the case of Cobalt Lake, Ontario, where a constant stream of hot water flows into the lake from the silver mines. As a consequence the ice leaves sometimes as much as two weeks earlier than it does in any of the surrounding lakes. Arthur A. Cole (1910) reports that in 1910 "the lake opened on March 31, and within 24 hours two herring gulls were seen floating in the lake." On the eastern coast of the United States the herring gull spends not only the winter but also the summer to a considerable distance to the south of its breeding range, the most southern point of which is No-Man's-Land in Penobscot Bay, Maine. 1 In southern Maine and on the New Hampshire and Massachusetts coasts it is difficult to state the dates of migration, for the birds is always to be found there. Courtship. — In the spring one may often see on a sand bar some of the herring gulls walking proudly about raising and lowering their heads and emitting from time to time loud sonorous notes, a bugle call which I believe to be their love song, while others stand quietly by. As this song is given the head, with wide%open bill, is raised until it points vertically upwards and then lowered to the horizontal 1 A few herring gulls have recently bred near Marthas Vineyard. U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 113 PL. IS V i \ --■3iiii§Bi8 Ep||39^p§i Heron Island, Maine. A. C. Bent. Little Spoon Island, Maine. Herring Gull. For description see page 331 A. C. Bent. LIFE HISTORIES 01? NORTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TERNS. 103 position. As the sex can not be distinguished one may only guess that it is the males that are thus parading themselves. At this time of year, more than at other times, they are frequently to be seen chas- ing each other in the air, and that too without the object of stealing coveted food morsels. Mr. Ralph Hoffman reports seeing a pair of these birds bowing to each other at Ipswich beach just prior to the act of mating. On the ground they sometimes seize each other by the bills and strike with the wings and feet. H. L. Ward (1906) de- scribes an action on the part of the gulls which suggested to him the dance of the albatross at Laysan. He says : Two adults may be standing near together, when one will stop, hold its neck nearly horizontal, its bill pointed down, wave its head in and out from its body, and slightly up and down, in a rapid, jerky way, reminding one somewhat of the motions of a duck feeding in shallow water, at the same time emitting a peculiar chickenlike chatter. The other one immediately joins in, apparently directing its attention to the same place in the ground, and the performance is kept up for a minute or two, when the birds straighten up, perhaps to repeat the operation two or three times with short intermissions. Nesting. — The herring gull breeds in small or large colonies, but always in the neighborhood of some body of water — a river, lake, or the sea. Single nests are rare, and usually point to the breaking up and scattering of a colony, for the herring gull is a very social creature and prefers to nest, feed, rest, and sleep in companies. Mr. Brewster in 1881 found many of the herring gulls on the south- ern coast of Labrador nesting in widely scattered regions, and says (1883) "the policy of scattering over wide areas, however, probably preserves the majority of nests from discovery." At the Duck Islands off the coast of Maine is a large breeding colony which has been protected for some years. Previously the colony was despoiled of eggs every year by fishermen, and many of the birds had acquired the habit of nesting in trees, where they were less likely to be robbed. Herring gulls have resorted to trees as nesting sites when disturbed by man in places other than these Duck Islands. Audubon (1840) in 1833 found the gulls nesting in fir trees on Grand Manan Island. He was informed that the habit had been acquired within the recollection of those living there, and that previously they had nested on the ground. Dr. Henry Bryant visited the same locality in 1856 and found that fewer were building in trees than in Audubon's time — a fact he attributes to greater freedom from persecution. Barrows (1912) says that he has never known herring gulls to nest in trees in the Great Lakes region. When I visited the Duck Island in 1904 the birds under protection had returned with few exceptions to the normal habit of nesting on the ground. ' '" 174785—21 8 104 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. Maj. G. Ealph Mayer, United States Army, contributes the fol- lowing description of the nesting colony at Great Duck Island, Maine, which he visited on June 20, 1913 : Great Duck Island is about 2 miles long and from three-fourths to 1 mile wide at' its greatest width. The gulls' nesting ground extends clear across the island in the open rocky ground and even back into the edge of the woods among the second or third growth. The nests are placed almost anywhere, though usually against a tree, trunk or stump. Some are placed among the rocks along the shore. There are three nesting trees on the island. The greater part of the nesting ground has a peculiar soil of rotten vegetable matter and is thickly scattered over with dead trees, standing and fallen. There are probably .4,000 pairs of birds nesting on Great Duck. Little Duck Island, which is about 1 mile north of Great Duck, is the home of about 6,000 pairs of the birds. The nests, as a general rule, are very rough looking structures, though there are some exceptions. The shape and size varies considerably with the location. The materials used were varied, in one part of the island where chickweed was plentiful this was used to the exclusion of all other materials excepting a few sticks for the base of the nest. On the higher ground the predominating materials were chips and pieces of the dead and rotten trees in the vicinity. Some nests were lined with grasses or feathers; others had no lining what- ever, but were more like mere beds Of chips and decayed vegetable matter. In the Walls of one nest I found a bristle brush of the kind used "in washing bottles. The tree nests were composed of branches and were lined with grasses. Several nests found in the,. woods on Little Duck were composed of sticks and were lined with mosses, principally Usnea longissima, which was very plentiful in the vicinity. These were the best constructed nests I found. In all cases they were larger than those in the open. Mr. Gray, the head light keeper, told me that this was the^Arst year he had seen them nesting in the heavy timber. The birds are quite bold in the defense of their breeding grounds. I have repeatedly seen them drive sheep and lambs from the vicinity of the nest, and only once did I see the sheep offer any resistance whatever, and in that case she very quickly decided that it was better to leave the vicinity. On two occasions I was charged by the birds. They did not touch me, but would swoop down straight at me until from 15 to 25 feet from me and directly overhead, when they would go up almost vertically and circling back, repeat the per- formance. When passing overhead they would utter their piercing " kee-ew." It was really exciting at times to see the bird heading directly at me and coming so fast. Mr. Gray told me that they made little attempt, however, to defend their nests against the crows, and that in some years a great deal of damage was done in this way. I watched the birds for some time from a tent. My notes show that six minutes after I entered the tent the birds had quieted down. I noticed one bird picking up nesting material several times, but it appeared to be a nervous action rather than a desire to collect nest material. Several times the birds had fights, in which each got hold of the other's bill and pulled. The following, taken from my "notebook, was written about 5 p. m. on a clear, bright day: This is one of the most wonderful sights I have ever witnessed. The air is literally full of gulls. In sight there must be at least 4,000 gulls and all screaming. It is a weird sound. The air is so full of them that it looks like U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 113 PL. 20 Seal Island, Nova Scotia. A. C. Bent. Heron Island, Maine. Herring Gull. For description see page 331. A. C. Bent. LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN GTJIXS AND TERNS. 105 ft snowstorm. They are perched on the trees and standing on the ground, where they resemble nothing so much as a national cemetery with its thou- sands of white stones. When I first arrived at Great Duck the birds did not appear to mind my walking around among the nests so much as they did later on. When I entered the nesting ground the birds within 50 to 100 feet of me would rise and fly around, calling. Later on during my stay the birds within 200 to 250 feet would rise. This may have been due to the fact that young were hatching out every day. On the ground the nests are placed in hollows or in plain sight on sand or gravel or rocks, or in grassy fields. Sometimes they are placed at the foot of stumps or close to an overhanging rock or pile of driftwood ; sometimes on the ground in thick spruce woods. They also nest on ledges on the face of cliffs, as at the Gaspe Peninsula. A. H. Jordan (1888) found a few nests on an island in Lake Cham- plain, where the birds were much persecuted, " quite well concealed in the edge of the woods under low-hanging trees." An unusual nesting site of the herring gull is mentioned by B\ S. Daggett (1890) , who found on Isle Eoyale in Lake Superior four nests of this bird built on the ice accumulated on the rocks by the dashing of the waves in winter. A few warm days had already so melted the ice that the nests with their contents were in danger of falling into the lake. He also speaks of nests made in hollows in the accumulated droppings of the. bird. Dutcher and Bailey (1903) say: During incubation' the weight of the sitting bird breaks down or packs the nest, so they are continually being repaired and built up around the edges with new material, which is always green grass or weeds, the effect being very pretty indeed. On several occasions gulls were seen gathering this material in their hills. The grass is bitten off or pulled up by the roots until the bird has a ball in its bill larger than a man's fist. This material is gathered where it is most plentiful and is usually carried by flight to the nest site. Baird, Brewer, and Eidgway (1884) describe a nest built in the top of a spruce, 60 feet from the ground, at Grand Manah, which was firmly built and " composed entirely of long, fine, flexible grasses, evidently gathered, when green, from the salt marshes, and carefully woven into a circular fabric. The nest measured about 18 inches in diameter, its sides being 3 or 4 inches thick, and its cavity at the center at least 4 inches deep." Ward (1906) observed incipient nest building at Gravel Island in Lake Michigan, and says that "there seemed to be no attempt to arrange the material with the bill," but that the bird molded the nest with her breast. Dutcher and Bailey found at Duck Island, Maine, the average depth of the bowl to be 3 inches and its diameter 10 inches. The diameter of the nests at the base varied from 13 to 24 inches ; they are sometimes built up to a height of 10 inches. Maj. G. Ealph 106 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. Meyer found that the size of the nests at the Duck Islands varied greatly. He writes : The average of seven nests was : Outer diameter, 15 inches ; inner diameter, 8 inches; depth outside, 4J inches; depth inside, 31 inches. One nest in the heavy timber measured 22 by 8 by 6 by 5. One of the tree nests was 28 inches in diameter. Eggs. — Only one brood is raised, but when the nests are frequently robbed the birds are kept laying all summer. Three eggs constitute a set, although the number is sometimes only two, and in very rare cases one or four. The color of the eggs varies within wide limits. Dutcher and Bailey, from an examination of many hundreds at Duck Island, Maine, found that : The ground colors were light sky blue, dead blue, light blue-gray, light gray- blue, dark lilac-gray, light gray, light pea-green, green drab, warm drab, ocher drab, pink drab, light brown, and cinnamon. The colors of the markings were choc- olate brown, rich brown, light brown, snuff brown, asphalt, black, lilac, mauve. The shape of markings was almost infinite — large and small spots, indistinct specks, blotches, lines, and irregular streaks, somewhat like the markings on the eggs of blackbirds. One egg was found with a light sky-blue ground color with tiny indistinct specks of lilac and light brown. Some of the markings were so confluent that they resulted in a distinct line around the egg. Major G. Ralph Meyer writes : , The eggs varied greatly in shape, size, and color. Eggs were found varying from short ovate to cylindrical ovate. The most common shape was the elongate ovate. The measurements of 45 eggs, in the United States National Museum and by Major Meyer, average 72.3 by 50.5 millimeters ; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 82 by 52, 74.5 by 53 and 58 by 45 millimeters. Young. — The period of incubation varies from 24 to 28 days, the average being 26 days. Dutcher and Bailey found an interval of about 12 hours between the hatching of each egg. Dutcher and Bailey (1903) show conclusively that in some cases at least both sexes incubate. They say: It was also observed that as the period of incubation neared its end the anxiety of the parents increased in a marked degree, so that it was easy to determine the stage of incubation by the action of the parents. During the last few hours, before the pipping and cracking of the egg, the parent birds were so- fearless that they would leave the nest only on a near approach. Several observers have found that the eggs were turned slightly by the bird's bill, feet, and breast. The mate of the sitting bird is often stationed near at hand. The young are soon on their feet after leaving the egg, and, accord- ing to Dutcher and Bailey, " the instinct to hide seems to be developed within an hour or two after hatching." They conceal themselves or sometimes only push their heads under pieces of wood or projecting rocks or in the grass. The object of this habit may be also a desire U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 113 PL. 21 Heron Island, Maine. A. C. Bent. Matinicus Rock, Maine. Herring Gull. For description see pace 33 1. H. K. Job. LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TERNS. 107 for coolness and shade. Audubon (1840), speaking of the herring gulls breeding in trees at Grand Manan, says : The most remarkable effect produced by these changes of locality Is that the young which are hatched in the trees or high rocks do not leave the nests until they are able to fly. This is conspicuously the case at Perce Bock in the Gaspe Peninsula and on the lofty cliffs of Bonaventure Island and Bon Ami. One of the parents guards the young during the first week or two of life, repelling intruders, and the young are brooded and shielded from the sun. E. M. Strong (1914) describes the feeding of young only a few hours old as follows : The adult bird did not insert its bill in the mouth of its offspring, but the latter took food from the ground just below the bill of the parent. * * * A quantity of food in a fine and soft condition was disgorged in more or less of a heap. Meyer writes that " in feeding the very young bird the parent holds the food in the bill and the young bird picks it out. The older birds take their food from the ground, where it is placed by the parents." Ward (1906) thus describes the feeding of young nearly able to fly : ■ , The young comes in front of an adult and with a bowing and courtesyii)^ movement puts up its bill to that of the old one, continuing the bowing fo.- several minutes, resting between times. Sometimes it took hold of the adult'i. bill with its own; at other times merely touched bills. When the adult opened its mouth the young put its bill within. Failing to get indications of food it went to another adult, and repeated the operation, passing in succession to several, until at length it seemed to get some favorable signs, for it remained by this one, alternately begging and resting. After some time, it was apparent to me that the adult was striving to regurgitate. It would open its mouth, stretch its neck nearly horizontally, then bring its head down to the ground. * * * Perhaps half an hour after these efforts began I saw a por- tion of a, fish appear in its mouth, and a moment later it was deposited on the ground, where the young promptly seized it. The fish appeared to be a herring about 7 or 8 inches long and so mascerated that it readily fell apart. I have observed adults at Perce 1 Rock very promptly regurgitate for their young on alighting near them. This feeding is done by both parents; and even after the young are able to gain a fair livelihood by their own exertions, and have gath- ered in companies by themselves, they are ever on the alert to beg food not only from their own parents, but from any adult that may come in their way. It is thought by some that the adults in their turn feed any that come along, but it is probable that the adults recognize their own offspring and as a rule refuse to feed any other, except when they are so set upon by the mob of clamorous young that they must perforce submit. The young are fed for at least five 108 BULLETIN 118, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. weeks, or until they are able to fly, and even for some time after this whenever the adult can be induced to part with some of its food. Young gulls swim readily, and when frightened will sometimes take to the water and swim rapidly away. An astonishing habit of herring gulls that has been observed and described by various writers is that of infanticide, and the murder is committed not only on the very young, but also on those nearly grown. Ward (1906a) says : The main point of attack was the back of the head. To this region a number of severe blows were given with the point of the bill, after which it was grasped between the mandibles of the adult and the bird was pulled about until the skin and flesh were cut through to the skull. He was unable to find that these victims were abnormal or had given offense. The habit may perhaps be due to the ferocity of the guarding and fighting instincts in the old birds, and a lack of attune- ment in the instincts of the young, in consequence of which a chick will occasionally stray from its own preserve and trespass on the domain of a neighbor. Meyer quotes Mr. Gray, the lighthouse keeper of Great Duck Island, as saying " that some of the old birds would kill young gulls and even young chickens. They would take the young bird by the neck and choke it. He put a stop to that by killing the bird found in the act." Examination of stomach contents of young herring gulls reported by Dutcher and Bailey (1903) showed that, besides fish and squid, various insects (moths, flies, and beetles) had been eaten. As a rule the young are given the same food that is consumed by the adults and this will be described later. In two stomachs of birds 1 and 2 days old examined by me I found wasps and large June beetles. Plumages. — The downy young are of a buffy yellow color, nearly white below and dusky on the back. They are thickly marked with black spots above. The bill is horn color, with a pink tip after the white pipping knob has disappeared; the feet, dusky pink. The growth of the young gull is rapid, and at the age of 5 or 6 weeks it has donned the juvenal dress, of which the prevailing color is dark gray tinged with brown. The upper parts are mottled and barred with grayish buff and white ; the head and neck are streaked with white ; the breast and belly nearly uniform ashy-fuscous. The primaries and tail are brownish black. The eyes are brown; the bill dark, pale at the base; the tarsi and feet grayish flesh color. There is a partial molt in the fall of the first year into the first winter plumage and a partial one in the spring into the first nuptial plumage; but no essential change in the general color of the feathers. In the spring and summer the large flocks of herring gulls that are to be found south of the breeding range are largely made up of these dark plumaged year-old birds. In the fall of the year following LIFE HISTORIES OP NORTH AMERICAN GTTLLS AND TERNS. 109 the one in which the birds are hatched — that is, in the second winter — the "gray gull" molts into its second winter plumage, a dress which approaches that of the adult in its pearl-gray back and white belly, but the former is mottled with brownish and the latter clouded with dusky. The head, neck, and rump are heavily streaked with gray, the primaries are black, and the tail appears to be tipped with black, owing to the dusky brown mottling of the white feathers. A partial molt in the spring into the second nuptial plumage still further improves the dress. A few individuals of this age (2 years) with black tips to the tails and streaked breasts are to be found in the breeding colonies, but none of those in the gray of the first nuptial plumage. Not until the third year or later is the full dress assumed with perfect blue gray mantle, snowy heads, breasts, rumps, and tails, and with primaries tipped with white. Astley (1901) states that the bright yellow bill is not attained until the fourth year. There is then a carmine spot on the lower mandible; the irides are yellow. There is also a seasonal molt, by which a slight streaking of the neck is assumed in winter, but it is probable that this diminishes and may vanish with age. According to Dwight (1901) the limited pre- nuptial molts occur on the Atlantic coast in March and April, and the complete postnuptial molts in August and September. Food. — The food habits of the herring gull are of considerable importance, for the bird is a scavenger and renders great service in keeping the harbors and beaches free from decaying fish and refuse of all sorts. All is game that comes in their way, but their greatest prizes are thrown from fishing vessels when the men are cleaning fish. At these times they crowd around the sterns of the vessels and dash eagerly for the choice pieces, the air being filled with their screams. The method of picking up food from the water is char- acteristic and graceful. Down they swoop on outstretched wings and spread tails with feet dropped to the water, where they often seize the morsel without wetting a feather save perhaps only the tips of their tails, which are curved downward. Often the birds must needs check their course by back paddling with their wings or even by flying up almost backwards. If the morsel is large thy sit on the water for a moment or two to swallow it, and thus drop behind the fishing vessel which, however, is easily overtaken. There is many a slip twixt the cup and the lip, however, for the birds are often made to share the booty with other gulls who have had their eyes on the same dainties, or even to lose it altogether when pursued by a more powerful rival. The great black-backed gull plays this role with great effect. The scows which carry off the city garbage to be dumped in deep water are also eagerly followed by the gulls and much booty is 110 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. gleaned when the vessel is discharged. In the harbors of populous cities there is always food to be found floating on the water, particu- larly in the neighborhood of fish wharves and at the mouths of sewers. The service to sanitation in these places is of great value. At Boston large quantities of sewage are poured out into the harbor at Moon Island just after the tide begins to ebb. Gulls collect from all sides in anticipation of this event and rest on the water offshore or fly to and fro until the sewer gates are opened; Then, heedless of the onlookers, they fly in crowded ranks close to the unsavory fountain head and dip gracefully for the titbits to be found there. It is an interesting fact and an indication of considerable intelligence that gulls, although very wary in regions where shooting is carried on, become entirely tame and confiding where this is forbidden, as is the case in harbors and bird reservations. At times, however, but not often, the herring gull resorts to the tactics of the tern, and captures small live fish by plunging headlong into the water. Occasionally this plunge is made from a height of 15 or 20 feet, and the bird disappears below the surface, soon to emerge with its prey. Sometimes a whole flock can be seen engaged in this occupation as they follow a school of fish. At other times, the plunge with partly open wings is made from only a few feet above the surface, and the bird is only partially immersed. I have seen the members of a flock of herring gulls riding in shallow water fly up a few feet into the air in order to obtain impetus for a short dive below the surface for some prey. Knight (1908) describes the plunging of these gulls from the air and says : They flew about the open water in circles * * * and as their keen eyes detected some fish at this upper portion of their range they plunged with force into the water, quickly rising to the surface as a usual thing, though on at least one occasion a bird was out of sight so long that I had grave fears that it would .be carried under the ice by the swift current, but it finally emerged at the edge of the ice and took, wing with an unsually large tomcod. • Nearly every plunge seemed to be successful, the birds swallowing the smaller fish before taking wing, but when a large fish was captured they would fly to the ice near by and after batting the fish from side to side on the ice would finally swallow it. When herring are caught in pounds and traps there are some dead or dying fish that are c\ otured by the gulls, which have, there- fore, been accused of damaging the fishery. It is probable that their work here is more properly that of scavengers in keeping the traps free from dead fish, and, therefore, beneficial. The sand beaches are at times covered with stranded fish, small and large; sand launces, herring, cod, hake, haddock, pollock, dog- fish, and skates are often thrown up or cast themselves ashore, pur- sued and pursuers alike. Their dead bodies would soon become intolerable were it not for the greediness of the gulls who come from LIFE HISTOBIES OF NORTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TERNS. Ill all sides to the feast. The small fry are eaten whole, while the larger bony fishes are gradually hacked to pieces until nothing but the skeleton is left. The tough spiny skin of the dogfishes and skates protect them until decay has allowed an entrance, and these are then partly consumed. Squid are also thrown up on the beaches and are relished by the gulls. The herring gull has a curious habit of dragging dry fish from the upper beach to the water. I found on Ipswich Beach a fish, 18 inches long, that had been dragged by a gull 134 yards in an irreg- ular course from the upper beach to the edge of the water. During the whole transit the gull walked backward, as was plainly shown by the tracks. In this connection the following by Strong (1914) concerning his captive gulls is of interest : He found that these gulls often rinsed a piece of food that " has been lying in a chemical solu- tion, or when it has accumulated considerable dirt as a consequence of having been dragged on the ground. Such rinsing of the food does not occur at every feeding, but is usual." In the case of the gulls at Ipswich it would seem as if they wished to soften the food by maceration in the water. From the beach and among the rocks of the seashore the herring gull obtains a variety of food other than dead refuse — crabs and other crustaceans, mollusks of all sorts, such as clams, mussels, sea snails, etc., and echinoderms and worms. Many crabs and mollusks are broken with the bill, but if this can not be accomplished the gull seizes the difficult morsel and flies up with it into the air, nearly vertically or in circles, drops it onto the hard sand or rocks, follows closely the descent, and alights to regale itself on the exposed con- tents. If unsuccessful the first time the gull tries a second and some- times a third or fourth time. This habit, which is also a common one with crows, explains the fact that mollusk shells, crabs, and sea urchins are scattered so universally along our coast, sometimes half a mile from the sea. On the rocky coast of Maine, where the sea urchin (Strongylocentrotus drobachiensis) is abundant, the gulls sometimes turn them over and pick out the flesh from the circular hole about the mouth without breaking the shell. Isely (1912) speaks of seeing a herring gull in Kansas "following a corn lister, picking up grubs like the blackbirds." In England, where the birds are more familiar with man, herring gulls not infrequently follow the plow to pick up worms and grubs. From time to time complaint is made of the damage done by her- ring gulls in eating fish or fish refuse spread on land as a fertilizer, and one can hardly blame the gull for his failure to discriminate between harmful and useful refuse. It is probable that these reports are exaggerated, and it has been found that the birds are easily kept away by scarecrows. 112 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. Seton (1908) says of the herring gull in the region of the Great Slave Lake that it "will pursue wounded game and often follows the hunter to share in the kill." Mackay (1892) says that herring gulls will eat dead ducks with avidity, cleaning off the flesh and rejecting the skin and feathers as if it had been done with a sharp knife. He has known them to carry a dead red-breasted merganser " for nearly a quarter of a mile by stages of about 25 yards, holding it by the neck, in order to eat it in security." He also states that they watch mergansers and rush at them when they appear with a fish in the mouth, and he believes that they often secure the fish. As has been stated above, insects of all kinds have been found in the stomachs of young birds. Coues (1877) speaks of finding the remains of a hare in a gull's stomach, and Eifrig (1905) seeds and berries. The herring gull under some circumstances robs nests of the eggs and young, but not to such an extent as some other gulls. Mr. Manly Hardy reports finding a herring gull nesting within 8 or 10 feet of three red-»breasted mergansers' nests and close by the nests of spotted sandpipers and common terns, none of which was in the least disturbed. Herring gulls eject from their mouths the harder particles of food, such as fishbones and crab's claws s in the form of loosely com- pacted pellets; some 2 inches in length. These may be seen about their resting places. I have sometimes found a few feathers in these pellets, probably plucked from the bird's own breasts. The fresh-water ponds and reservoirs along the coast are fre- quently visited by this splendid gull, and it is the common idea that they resort to these to drink fresh water ; but it is to be remembered that in some places and times they stay continuously near salt water, and that Mr. Brewster's captive Jrittiwake refused fresh water, but drank salt water. In the interior on the fresh-water lakes and ponds where the herring gull breeds, and in similar regions where it spends the winter, it is evident that the bird must drink fresh water. Anthony (1906) says: That gulls drink sea water, and can thrive on it, is a fact not to be ques- tioned ; but I am of the opinion that when fresh water can be obtained with- out too much trouble they will drink it in preference. Strong (1914) found that his captive gulls showed an aversion foi salted food, and washed their bills and drank fresh water after- wards. Behavior. — The flight of the herring gull varies greatly under dif- ferent circumstances. At times, especially in calm weather, the birds flap along slowly with broad, slow wing beats like those of herons or cormorants. In this manner they may fly close to the water or high in the air, and they are usually massed in loose flocks. LIFE HISTOBIES OF NORTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TEENS. 113 Occasionally, however, their flight is in a long line, one behind the other, or in broad lines abreast, and rarely they may be seen in the typical V formation of ducks. In rising, a flock often ascends nearly vertically in a great circle all together, or in many intersect- ing circles. The play of light and shade, of sun and shadow, alter- nately make the birds appear dark and light. Many hours are spent by the gulls in this graceful and beautiful sport of soaring in circles — a sport which apparently requires but little effort, as, under favor- able conditions, few wing beats are necessary. The descent may be made in the same manner as the ascent by circling, but at times the birds drop swiftly down by tipping or rocking from side to side. In windy weather the flight of the herring gull is far from slow and heron-like. Then it is extremely graceful, as the bird alter- nately sails with great rapidity before the wind or beats up into it. At times these gulls are able to sail directly into the teeth of the wind without a single stroke of the wing. Mr. William Brewster (1912) has described the manner in which herring gulls keep pace with a vessel, gliding along on almost motionless wings into the teeth of the gale, sometimes within a few yards of the deck, but always on the windward side. He says : As the gale increased they flapped their wings less and less often, until most, if not all of them, were gliding ceaselessly, minute after minute, over distances certainly exceeding a mile, without a single wing beat, but not without changes or readjustments in the bend or the inclination of the wings, which took place not infrequently and often were very obvious. Several explanations of this mysterious means of propulsion have been offered, but the following by F. W. Headley (1912) seems to me the most satisfactory. He says : There is a feat perhaps more striking than any of the others already de- scribed — a feat which, nevertheless, gulls often achieve. A steamer is advanc- ing against a fairly strong wind, which, if not absolutely a head wind, strikes the vessel at an acute angle. There results a steady up current over the stern of the vessel, or slightly to one side or the other of the stern. Poised on this up current the gulls hang in mid-air, their wings held rigidly expanded. Only very slight wing movements, evidently for purposes of balance, can be detected. Standing on the deck and watching these gulls one is irresistibly reminded of the poising of the kestrel high in air, with wings held motionless, when he finds a wind that is all that he could wish. It is sometimes easy to forget that, unlike the kestrel, they do not remain in one spot, but that all the while they are moving forward and, in fact, keeping pace with the steamer. The gulls, like the kestrel, are poising on an up current of air; but they give their bodies a rather different incline, with the result that they keep traveling forward. * * * The general incline of their body and wing surfaces is slightly down- ward. Hence the upward-streaming wind not only maintains them in the air or lifts them higher, but, acting at right angle, also drives them forward. A similar explanation is given in detail by A. Forbes (1913) . 114 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. It is probable that gulls take advantage of ascending currents of air when they soar in circles without perceptible wing beat. In descending from a height they often glide, or vol-plane in the modern language of the aviator, with amazing speed at a steep angle. At other times, as remarked above, they descend almost vertically by tipping first to one side and then to the other, with a suddenness that suggests falling. The last 20 or 30 feet is often accomplished slowly with upstretched wings and downstretched legs. There are very few birds whose flight is more beautiful or which will so well repay study as that of the herring gull. In flight the feet are stretched behind under the tail, where they can be seen; but it is not very rare to discover a gull flying with one or both feet imbedded in the feathers of the breast, entirely covered or showing only a bit of the. darker surface of the feet. I can hardly believe that this is for. the sake of warmth, for it may occur on com- paratively warm days; while even in the coldest weather the great majority of gulls fly with their feet exposed behind. In quick turns the feet are sometimes dropped, as if to aid in holding the air like a centerboard. They are also dropped as they approach the water, and at times dangle for several seconds as the birds rise into the air. Rising from the water or beach is easily accomplished against a strong wind, but in calm weather the bird is obliged to run along the sand or water for a variable distance before it can rise above the surface. Although gulls are able to swim rapidly when winged and unable to fly, they rarely swim any distance under natural conditions. Their buoyant position on the water, with elevated tails, is well expressed by Oliver Wendell Holmes when he says : The gull, high floating like a sloop unladen. The young just out of the egg are rapid swimmers and instinctively take to the water. It is said by some writers that the herring gull never dives. This statement is, however, incorrect, as has already been shown in de- scribing the feeding habits. In fact, under exceptional circum- stances the herring gull dives as well as a tern. The vocal powers of the herring gull have a wide range. This is particularly the case during the breeding season, when they indulge in all sorts of sounds, uttered it may be in conversational manner, in moods of love and passion, or anger and fear. Writers have described these sounds by syllables or by comparisions with other sounds in nature. Thus Ward (1906) says: Sometimes one hears sounds like the lowing of cattle, except that the pitch is higher, like the bleating of sheep, the mewing or snarling of cats, the cluck- ing of hens, the crowing of cocks, hoarse human chuckles, and sounds for which I could find no comparisons. LIFE HISTOEIES OF NOKTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TEENS. 115 Olive Thome Miller says that the young herring gull has "a querulous cry like a puppy in distress." I have often been struck with the resemblance of some of their notes to the rattling of blocks in the rigging of a vessel. The usual alarm cry may be represented by the syllables, kak-kak- kak, or by a series of ha ha has. Herrick writes it as " waw-wak- wak! wak-wak! wak-wak!" Strong decided on the syllables u kek- kek-kek," with the accent on the first syllable. Ward also distin- guishes a " challenge cry where the bird stretches its neck up at an angle of 45° and holds its whole body rigidly while the cry is emitted with great vehemence. This I have previously described under courtship. Bent's notes refer to this cry as the "trumpeting call " and state that this is the most striking and spectacular vocal performance of all the varied notes heard on the breeding grounds. It is usually given from a tree, stump, or other perch, but often from the ground. The neck is outstretched to its full extent, pointing upwards at an angle, and the mouth is opened wide. The call begins with a loud, shrill, prolonged scream, which is followed by a long series of shorter notes, rapidly uttered, sometimes as many as 10 or 12 in the latter. It sounds like queeeee-ah, quale, quale, quale, quale, quale, quale, quale, quale, quale, quale. As one bird starts on this call it seems to challenge others to join in the chorus, until perhaps a dozen birds are all giving it at once like a loud ringing chorus of college cheers. Strong represents the call as keee, kee ek, kee ek, kee ek, kee ek, etc. I have noted it as ko-ah, ko-ah, etc., as well as ku-ku, or kee ke, kee, the last named high pitched and rapidly repeated. At times the notes are clear and bugle like ; again squeaking or rattling ; again the birds emit hissing whistles, which are very different from the other notes and very characteristic. There is evidently great individual variation in the notes as well as variations due to many moods and circumstances. The herring gull associates with a number of other sea birds in the same haunts. With the great black-backed gull it has not in- frequent encounters on the score of food, but it is fair to say that the larger bird is more often the aggressor. Arthur Saunders writes : I have seen the common crow rob the gull of mussels which they have dropped on the rocks to break. The crows sit on the rocks until a gull drops a mussel near it, then walk up and seize the mussel before the gull has time to get it again. The gulls do not seem to resent this at all. They generally act as though they did not know where the mussel had gone to and fly off to hunt for another. I have several times seen a herring gull fly at a whistler who was swimming near-by. The whistler always dove at the approach of the gull, who would settle on the water where the duck went down. In a few seconds he would start off for another duck, and the process 116 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. would be repeated again and again. The gull never picked up any food from the water and never molested any ducks swimming near ; and none of them showed any fear, except the one directly flown at, who would always dive before the gull reached it. It seemed to be a matter of play on the part of the gull that was understood as such by the duck, although it is possible that the gull hoped to obtain food. On one occasion I saw a herring gull fly directly at a female American merganser which with another was being courted by a male. The merganser flew vigorously away just as the gull alighted. Then began an active chase by short flights on the part of the gull, who was eluded by rapid turns and occasional dives on the part of the merganser. Finally the merganser came up close to the two other mergansers, who had remained passive during the pursuit, but as the gull pounced at the group they all took flight, closely followed by the tyrant. The mergansers easily distanced the gull, who in his eagerness spit out a small fish, but soon after gave up the pursuit and alighted on the ice. Well endowed by nature to resist the destructive agencies of storm and cold, with practically no enemies among birds and mammals, the herring gull would indeed be a prosperous species were it not for the arch enemy, man. Fortunately, at the present date, the idea of bird preservation from an esthetic as well as from a utilitarian point of view is gaining ground, and since the beginning of the present cen- tury the herring gull has been more and more protected from gun- ners and eggers. With many the benefit derived from this gull in sanitation (the removal from harbors of floating organic matter) is a strong argu- ment in favor of protection. In the past, and to a large extent in such out-of-the way regions as Labrador at the present day, these gulls were and are incessantly persecuted during the breeding sea- son. Their eggs are highly valued as a food supply, and the young are cooped up and fattened for eating. Adult birds are shot for food or for mere sport. It is fortunate that such practices are now frowned upon in all well-regulated communities. A destructive agency of the young at breeding colonies is the surf on the shore. In stormy weather when the waves are, high many young gulls, still unable to fly, are killed by being dashed on the rocks. Like many other birds, it is probable that herring gulls enjoy con- siderable longevity, barring accidents. American ornithologists are familiar with the case of " Gull Dick," often reported by Mackay in " The Auk." For 24 years this bird— easily recognized by markings, voice, and disposition— visited the neighborhood of the Brenton's Eeef Lightship in Narragansett Bay. Here it stayed from about LIFE HISTORIES OP NORTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TERNS. 117 October 12 to April 7. The bird was fed regularly with boiled pork and fish. It would fly close to the vessel and would respond to calls or waving of the hand at mealtimes, and it jealously drove off all other gulls. Morris (1903) records another individual that was ob- served for at least 30 years. FaU. — The fall migration from the breeding grounds at the Duck Islands, Maine, has been observed by the lightkeepers to begin about August 8, and by the 20th three-quarters of the birds have left. At Ipswich I have noted a decided diminution in the summer birds and a migration past the beach of adults by the 20th of August. As the herring gull is found in summer as well as in winter to the south of the breeding range, it is difficult to set exact limits in time for the migrations. The usual explanation given for the occurrence of the herring gull in summer south of its breeding grounds is that these birds are immature or, if adults, barren individuals. On the coast of Essex County, Massachusetts, especially at Ipswich, is a place where non- breeding summer birds can be studied to good advantage. Here; on the sandy beaches; they collect in numbers, which have notice- ably increased of late years, since adequate protection has been ex- tended to the breeding colonies farther north. As a large proportion of the summer birds at Ipswich are in immature plumage, it is probable that immaturity is the cause for nonbreeding to a con- siderable extent. A certain proportion, however, sometimes as many as 5 or even 10 per cent of the flocks, are in adult plumage. This fact and the fact that the number of gulls varies greatly from day to day, and that their numbers are greatest at the times when the beaches are covered with stranded fish, suggests that a certain proportion, perhaps only a small one, may be daily excursionists from their breeding places, the nearest of which, No Mans Land, is 111 miles northeast of Ipswich Light. Confirming this supposition are some observations made by me in June, 1904, on the Maine coast, where I found flocks of gulls flying southwest in the morning and northeast at night. The following from Dutcher and Bailey (1903) in the study of the gulls at No Mans Land and Great Duck Island, also bears this out : At daylight large numbers of gulls leave the island arid go to sea for food; and the length of time they remain away is governed probably by the distance they have to go to find fish. Some days they return quite early and on others much later. The manner of flight when returning from one of these food trips is entirely different from that of the ordinary excursions made from the breeding grounds; it is made close to the surface of the water, very direct, one bird following another, and is quite rapid. Sometimes the birds show marked evidences of fatigue. 118 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. The numbers of these summer birds at Ipswich I have estimated at various times with considerable care and by various methods. Sometimes, I have measured the sand bar which they covered, or the strip of beach or the length of the line in the water abreast of the beach, and, by allowing a certain number to the square or linear yard, have arrived at a fairly accurate estimate, which I believe in most cases has been below rather than above the mark. The follow- ing are some of the dates and the numbers: June 21, 1903, 2,000; July 27, 1903, 2,500; November 20, 1904, 8,000; July 16, 1905, 28,800; July 20, 1907, 5,000; July 12, 1908, 5,000. The large number given for July 16, 1905, was obtained from the measurement of the area occupied by a flock. This was an area of 28,800 square yards, where the birds had stood nearly shoulder to shoulder. Even if there was only one bird in every square yard, the numbers would almost exceed belief. After the middle of September the ponds about Boston where shooting is forbidden are frequented daily by this bird. The num- bers are sometimes so great that the authorities have at times been alarmed lest the waters of the reservoirs be polluted by the droppings of the birds, or by typhoid baccilli, which they fear may be carried on the feet or plumage from sewage on which the gulls feed. I have made especial note of the gulls visiting the Back Bay Basin of Bos- ton, bounded by Boston and Cambridge, and the center of a great area of brick and mortar. For some years past the tides have been excluded and the water is fresh. The gulls do not spend the night here, but come in from the sea, flying high over the houses at sunrise or from time to time during the day. At times companies of many hundreds ride the water. Later in the winter the gulls collect in great flocks on the ice. I have seen several acres of ice here, as well as on Fresh Pond, Cambridge, covered thickly with gulls. The duration of the visits of the gulls to the fresh-water ponds varies. Sometimes they fly back to the harbor or sea within half an hour, sometimes they tarry much longer ; but, as often happens, some are coming and going all day, so it is difficult to say how long the majority remain. However that may be, the ponds are deserted by them at sunset. On one occasion a large flock of gulls remained in Charles River Basin as late as 9 o'clock on a mild December night. It is possible that some food may be obtained on the surface of these bodies of fresh water, but the gulls appear to spend most of their time there gossiping in groups as they float in closely crowded ranks on the surface of the water or stand shoulder to shoulder on the ice. The subject of the drinking of fresh water has already been dis- cussed above. As the gulls do not spend the night in the small fresh- water ponds on the coast, and as they fly toward the sea at sunset, it is evident that they must spend the night on or near salt water. LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TERNS. 119 One such night chamber — it can not be called a roost — I have found off the beach at Eevere, close to Boston. Here in November and De- cember I have seen great companies of these splendid white birds gathering about sunset from a quarter to a third of a mile off- shore. Sometimes there are two groups of many hundreds each. Once I saw one that looked like a coral atoll, for it was annular with a calm, open area in the middle. I have seen these birds in a strong offshore wind keep in exactly the same place ; so it was evident that each bird, headed up into the wind, must have been paddling hard. This, to our way of thinking, would seem to be a poor manner in which to spend the night — sleep walking with a vengeance. It is possible and indeed probable that later in the evening and during the night, when the beach is free from human intrusion, the birds seek rest on the beach. In fact at sunrise one December day I saw a large flock of herring gulls at Eevere, partly on the beach and partly in the water. In the summer at Ipswich the gulls often spend the night on the beach, although they sometimes resort to the marshes and doubtless also sleep on the water. Many of them fly to the small rocky islands, the Salvages, off the end of Cape Ann, and there, secure from human intrusion, spend the night. In some regions herring gulls roost in trees during the night. It is stated that sometimes herring gulls follow a vessel for food for many miles and even across the Atlantic Ocean. Anthony (1906) states that herring gulls turn back some 25 miles at sea on the Pacific coast. DISTRIBUTION. Breeding range.— la. North America east to the Atlantic coast. South to central Maine (Penobscot Bay), central New York (Lake Champlain, Hamilton, Herkimer, and Oneida Counties), southern Ontario (Great Lakes), northern Wisconsin (Green Bay), northern Michigan (Sanilac County), central Minnesota (Mille Lacs), southern Manitoba (Shoal Lake), and central British Colum- bia (Sabine Lake). The western and northern limits are uncertain. Saskatchewan and North Dakota records are confused with call- fornicus; breeding records from Forrester and Kodiak Islands, the Alaska Peninsula, Mount McKinley region, and Yukon Eiver are not substantiated by specimens and may refer to thayeri. A breeding female has been taken at Lake Tagish, Yukon. For the same reason the northern limits which extend up to southern Ellesmere Land are equally uncertain. The species breeds in Iceland, the British Isles, and in Europe east to the White and Baltic Seas and south to northern France. 174785—21 9 120 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. Breeding grounds protected in the following national reserva- tions : In Alaska, Forrester Island ; in Michigan, Huron Island, and Siskiwit Islands; in Wisconsin, Gravel Island and Green Bay; in Canada, protected on Perce Rock. Winter range. — From the Great Lakes irregularly and the Gulf of St. Lawrence rarely, southward to Bermuda, the West Indies (Cuba and Jamaica) , and the Gulf of Mexico (Florida, Texas, and Yuca- tan) ; on the Pacific coast from British Columbia (Puget Sound), south to Mexico (Tres Marias Islands) ; in Europe from the British Isles south to the Canary Islands and the Mediterranean ; and east to the Black and Caspian Seas. Spring/ migration. — 'Dates of early arrival : Prince Edward Island, April 1 ; Quebec, April 10 ; Montreal, April 13 ; Ottawa, March 13 ; Wisconsin, Madison, March 2; Minnesota, Heron Lake, March 20; Manitoba, Aweme, April 2 ; Alberta, Edmonton, May 1 ; Mackenzie, Fort Simpson, May 14; Franklin, Bay of Merey, May 31, and Prince of Wales Strait, June 7. Dates of late departure: Florida, Clear- water Harbor, May 21 ; North Carolina, Pea Island, May 3 ; Mary- land, Baltimore, May 28 ; Rhode Island, Providence, June 12 ; Massa- chusetts, Woods Hole, July 4 (average June 11) ; Louisiana, New Orleans, March 25; Missouri, St. Louis, May 28 (average April 15) ; Illinois, Chicago, June 15 (average April 23). Fall migration. — Average dates of arrival : Massachusetts, Woods Hole, August 21 ; New Jersey, Jersey City, September 21 ; Georgia, Savannah, November ,3 ; Iowa, Keokuk, October 8. Average dates of departure; Ungava, Fort Chimo, September 18; Labrador, Nakvak, October; Montreal, November 5; Ontario, Ottawa, November 7; Mackenzie, Fort Resolution, September 22; Manitoka, Killarney, October 18. Egg dates. — Maine: Forty-eight records, May 4 to August 8; twenty-four records, June 12 $p 30. Michigan : Twenty r five records, May 21. to June 24; thirteen records, May 27 to June 10.- Gulf of St. Lawrence : Nine records^ June 7 to 23. Great Britain : Nine records, April 28 to May 26 ; five records, May 12 to 20; LAKUS THAYERI Brooks. THAYER'S GULL. HABITS. A new species has recently been described by Mr. W. Sprague Brooks (1915), based on the discovery that certain gulls collected by Mr. J. S. Warmbath, in Ellesmere Land in June, 1901, supposed to be Kumlien's gulls, were in reality a distinct and undescribed species. The discovery was made in attempting to identify a gull LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TERNS. 121 collected by Mr. Joseph Dixon at Demarcation Point, Alaska, on August 28, 1913. Practically nothing is known about the distribu- tion or life history of this decidedly boreal species. There are two sets of two eggs each, in Col. John E. Thayer's collection, taken by Mr. Warmbath in Ellesmere Land on June 15, 1910. These, and I believe a few others, were sold as eggs of Kum- lien's gull, which they were honestly supposed to be at that time. These eggs are not strikingly different from many other gulls' eggs, though they are rather more pointed than the average; the shape varies from ovate to elongate ovate. The ground color is " dark olive-buff," "buffy brown," or "buffy olive." The markings are similar to those of other large gulls. The four eggs measure 80 by 51.5, 83 by 52, 73 by 49, and 75 to 52 millimeters. There is a set of three eggs in the author's collection, taken by Captain Bernard on Victoria Island, Arctic America, on June 27, 1914. The nest is described as the " usual nest of vegetation on rocks close to the sea." In these three eggs the ground color is, respectively, " deep olive buff," " yellowish glaucous," and " sea foam yellow." All three are quite uniformly and rather thickly covered with small spots of " vinaceous drab " and various shades of dark brown, from " bister " to almost black. In one egg the darkest markings are in scrawls. They measure 67 by 46, 67 by 48.5, and 70.4 by 46.5. Very little is known about the distribution and habits of Thayer's gull, but, as it is now supposed to be a subspecies of the herring gull, its habits and plumage changes are probably similar to those of the common species. Mr. Brooks (1915) says of its distribution: Though there is no data to determine the range of this species it must be a very boreal form, and perhaps comparatively small in numbers. The Alaskan specimens may have wandered from Ellesmere Land, but it seems reasonable to believe that the bird may inhabit Prince Patrick, Melville, or Bathurst Islands, nearly all this territory being north of 75°. Dr. Jonathan Dwight (1917) has studied practically all of the specimens of this gull now available, some 25 in all, which he says : demonstrate that the supposed new species is nothing more than a geographical race of the herring gull, and should stand as Larus argentatus thayeri- Thayer's herring gull. Complete intergradation between the two forms occurs argentatus prevailing south of Hudson Strait and of the northern shores of Hudson Bay, while northward probably throughout the Arctic Archipelago of Canada, thayeri seems to be the common form. Breeding birds of Port Chimo, Ungava, are argentatus, and those of Cape Fullerfon, north of Chesterfield Inlet, not quite typical thayeri, but farther north and west all the birds are thayeri. The localities from which I have seen breeding specimens are Buchanan Bay, Ellesmere Land, Browne Island (south of Cornwallis Island), Kater Point, Coronation Gulf, Bernard Harbor, Dolphin and Union Strait, and Cape Kellett, Banks Island. 122 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. Thayer's herring gull probably winters chiefly on the Pacific coast, for I have examined a number of specimens from Barkley Sound, Departure Bay, and Comox, Vancouver Island, British Columbia. I also have an adult female in my own collection taken on the north shore of the St. Lawrence at Tadousac, Quebec, July 26; but this specimen is doubtless a wanderer from the north, for dissection showed it to be a bird past the breeding stage. DISTRIBUTION. Breeding range. — Breeding range imperfectly known. Presum- ably breeding herring gulls from the Artie coast of North America are this form, but it is not possible to verify all records ; neither do we know the area where intergradation takes place. Breeding speci- mens have been examined by Dwight from Buchanan Bay, Ellesmere Land, Browne Island (south of Cornwallis Island), Cape Fullerton, Kater Point, Coronation Gulf, Bernard Harbor, Dolphin and Union Strait, and Cape Kellett, Banks Island. Eggs have been taken at Ellesmere Land (type locality) and Victoria Island. Winter range. — Probably largely on Pacific coast. Specimens ex- amined by Dwight from Barkley Sound, Departure Bay, and Comox, Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Migration. — Practically nothing is known regarding the migra- tions of this gull. It apparently passes north along the Pacific coast at least to southeastern Alaska (Ketchikan, specimen taken) ; and, lacking negative evidence, we may infer the return is made by the same route. Casual records. — One was taken at Tadousac, Quebec, July 26. Egg dates. — Ellesmere Land: Two records, June 15 and July 1. Victoria Island : One record, June 27. LARUS VEGAE Palmen. VEGA GULL. HABITS. This (so-called) species seems to be nothing more nor less than a dark-backed herring gull, and I doubt very much if it will prove to be more than subspecifically distinct from Larus argentatus, if even that. Mr. William H. Kobbe (1902) has presented a very thorough and convincing argument to prove that the two forms intergrade, and suggests that but one species be recognized. The characters on which Larus vegae is supposed to stand have been apparently con- fused with those of Larus cachinnans, or are variable and unsatisfac- tory. For a full discussion of the merits of the case I would refer the readers to Mr. Kobbe's excellent paper. The distribution of the Vega gull has not been very thoroughly worked out, for our knowledge of the bird life of the region it in- U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 113 PL. 22 .'&. ji Sm .-itt)tffcii.*j hii v ^Ir^SJ ^|Hfl;' 'ftaflHHHHB^BWl ■ J|e£ ^S^^BIHSHSSiH llllllfe . Kolyma Delta, Siberia. Kolyma Delta, Siberia. Vega Gull. For description see page 331. J. Koren. LIFE HISTOBIES OF NORTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TERNS. 123 habits is very meager. Until the limits of its breeding range are well known, and until a large series of specimens have been collected in that region, the correct status of the species can not be determined. If not identical with the herring gull it is certainly closely related to it, and its habits, so far as we know, are similar. It is therefore fair to assume that its life history closely resembles that of the com- moner species, due allowance being made for any differences in en- vironment. Nesting.-^- There are three sets of eggs of this species in the author's collection, all of which were taken by Mr. Johan Koren at the mouth of the Kiver Kolyma in northeastern Siberia, where he found it an abundant species along the Arctic coast. Two of these nests were photographed for illustration in this work. The first nest was located on a shelf on a steep bluff 200 feet high, on the bank of the river, where glaucous gulls were also nesting. It contained three eggs, which were nearly ready to hatch on July 10. Another set of three eggs, incubated about 15 days, was taken on July 2. A large nest of moss and straws had been built over the root of a stranded tree trunk, which drifted onto a low, grass-grown islet of the delta. The third set was taken on July 6 and consisted of two eggs, incu- bated seven days. The nest was made of moss and straws in a bog on a low island of the delta ; a colony of six pairs of Vega gulls were breeding on the island. Eggs. — The above three sets of eggs are so different in coloring that they are worth describing, as representing the usual variations in eggs of this species. In the first set the ground color is " deep olive buff" ; the eggs are sparingly spotted over the entire surface with rather small spots of " fuscous," " Vandyke brown," " Dresden bfown," and " ehestnut brown," over underlying spots and blotches varying from " pale drab gray " to " hair brown." The second set is paler, " olive buff," one egg having a decidedly greenish tinge ; this latter egg is heavily and fantastically blotched with dark shades of " chestnut brown " and "Vandyke brown." The third set represents the brownish type ; the ground color carries from dull " snuff brown " to dull "tawny olive"; the three eggs are all heavily spotted, chiefly about the larger ends, with confluent spots of " hair brown," " drab," " warm sepia," and dark " Vandyke brown." All of these eggs could be closely matched with similar types of herring gull's eggs, which they resemble in general appearance. The measurements of 30 eggs, in various collections, average 70.4 by 49.5 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 77.5 by 50.5, 75.5 by 53.1 and 65 by 47.5 millimeters. Plumages.— The downy is similar to that of the herring gull, but what specimens I have seen average darker gray in color, less buffy, 124 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. and are somewhat more heavily spotted with black. Although speci- mens of this bird are scarce in collections, I have seen enough to con- vince me that the molts and plumages are similar to those of the herring gull. Winter. — Our check list states that this species migrates south in winter to Japan, and does not mention any southward migration down the Pacific coast of North America; but Mr. Kobbe (1902) collected a series of herring gulls in San Francisco Bay during De- cember, 1900, and January, March, and April, 1901, some of which might easily be referred to this form. His series, and that of the California Academy of Sciences, show every gradation of color, from the darkest vega to the lightest herring gull. The more one studies such material the less faith one has in Larus vegae as a species. DISTRIBUTION. Breeding, range. — Northeastern Siberia, known to breed on the Kolyma River and its delta; Cape Bolshaja Baranof ; Cape Kibera Island; and coast of Tchonkatch (Idligass Island). Taken in sum- mer, and probably breeds on the Siberian coast from the Taimir Peninsula and the Liakoff Islands to Plover Bay and Kamchatka. Alaska breeding records are doubtful. Winter range. — South along the coasts of _ Japan and China to Formosa and the Bonin Islands. Records from the Pacific coast of the United States are usually not accepted. Spring migration. — Northward along the Asiatic coast. China, Formosa Channel, March 9 ; Japan, Kanagana, March 29 ; Saghalin Island, June 2 (may breed there) . Fall migration. — Eastward to Norton Sound, Alaska, and then southward along the Asiatic coast. Alaska, Nome, August 31; St. Michael, October 16. Casual records. — Taken at Laysan Island and Marcus Island in the Pacific Ocean. Egg dates. — Northeastern Siberia: Eight records, June 4 to July 12 ; four records, June 24 to July 6. LARUS CALIFORNICUS Lawrence. CALIFORNIA GULL. HABITS. It has always seemed to me that the above name should have been applied to the western gull, Larus occidentalism the characteristic gull of the California coast, for the subject of this sketch, Larus caUfornicus, is essentially a bird of the inland plains. It is common U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 113 PL. 23 V^ "V ^ Big Stick Lake, Saskatchewan. A. C. Bent. Big Stick Lake, Saskatchewan. California Gull. For description see paqe 331 A. C. Bent. LIFE HISTORIES OE NORTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TERNS. 125 enough on the California coast in winter, together with several other species, but it is not known to breed within that State except in the elevated regions east of the Sierras in the northern part of the State. Although we are accustomed to associate gulls with the seashore this species seems to be confined, during the breeding season, to the in- terior, where it is widely distributed and in many places abundant, particularly in the vicinity of the larger lakes, from northern Utah to the barren grounds on the Arctic coast. The exact limits of its distribution are none too well known, for the casual observer might easily mistake it for the herring gull, which it closely resembles. The ranges of the two species come together at the eastern edge of the Great Plains, and undoubtedly many mistaken identifications have been made where specimens have not been collected. Such was the case at. Crane Lake, Saskatchewan, where the herring gull had been reported as breeding abundantly, but where all of the large gulls that we collected during two seasons' work proved to be California gulls, which were very common. Nesting. — The finest breeding colony of this species that I have ever seen was at Big Stick Lake in that same region, 30 miles north of Maple Creek. On June 14, 1906, our guide drove us out through shallow water to a small island, about 300 yards from the shore. It was a low, flat island, surrounded by gravelly or muddy beaches, largely bare on the higher portions, except for a scattered growth of coarse, dead weeds, but supporting quite a thick growth of long grass on the lower or flatter portion. It may have contained more than 1 acre of land, but certainly not over 2 acres at the most. As we landed a flock of American white pelicans flew off from the far- ther end and a great cloud of California and ring-billed gulls arose from the center of the island, but we devoted our attention at first to the American avocets, which had flown out to greet us with their yelping notes of protest. Their nests were placed in the short grass near the beach or on the windrows of driftweed which lined the shores. There were not over a dozen pairs in the colony. A small colony of common terns were nesting in the short grass, two nests of spotted sandpipers were found, Wilson's phalaropes were flying about, and specimens of northern phalaropes and semipalmated sand- pipers were collected. In the long grass we found a pintail's nest with nine eggs in the process of hatching and five ducks' nests, with apparently fresh eggs, which we took to be baldpates, though we could not identify them with certainty, as the birds were not in- cubating. On the higher portion of the island, among the tall dead weeds,; we found three ducks' nests, referred to hereafter under the American merganser, which we were unable to satisfactorily identify The California and ring-billed gull colony occupied the whole of 126 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. the main portion of the island, which was thickly covered with their nests. We could form no accurate idea of their number, as we did not have time to count the nests ; but to say that there were at least 1,000 pairs of each species would be a conservative statement. The nests of the ring-billed gulls were chiefly on the higher portion of the island, while those of the California gulls were mostly around the shores and on a bare, flat point, though both species were some- what intermingled where the two colonies came together. I should say that about half of the eggs had hatched, for we found hundreds of the downy young hiding among the scanty vegetation and saw them swimming out from the shores in large numbers. This island was visited again by the other members of our party July 18-21, 1906, when they found the bird population of the little island in- creased by a nesting colony of 14 pairs of American white pelicans and 4 pairs of double-crested cormorants. The California gulls' nests in this colony were well made of dead weeds, rubbish, straw, and feathers. Most of them were on the bare dry ground on the open shores, but many of them were actually in the water; probably these latter were originally built on the dry beach, but recent heavy rains had raised the level of the lake and surrounded them with water; fortunately they had been built high enough to keep the eggs and young dry. The nests varied greatly in size ; average nests measured from 14 to 18 inches in diameter. The inner cavity was usually 7 inches wide by 2 inches deep; the outer edges of the nests were built up from 2 to 5 inches above the ground. One extra large nest measured 26 inches in diameter and 7 inches high. Mr. W. L. Finley (1907) found an interesting colony of California and ring-billed gulls on a tule island in Lower Klamath Lake, Oregon, in May, 1905 ; I quote from his account of it as follows : We were led to the place by watching the course of the small flocks that spread out over the lake in the morning and returned homeward about dusk each evening. Prom a full mile away, with our field glass, we could see the gulls rising and circling over the low-lying islands. As we rowed nearer the birds came out to meet us, cackling excitedly at the dubious-looking craft approaching so near their homes. They swam about on all sides, curiously following in the wake of our boat. Cormorants flapped along over the surface, pelicans rose heavily from the water, and gulls and terns got thicker and thicker, until when the nose of the boat pushed in at the edge of the island, the air seemed completely filled with a crying, chaotic swarm. We stepped out among the reeds, but had to tread cautiously to keep from breaking eggs or killing young birds. Many youngsters crouched low in their tracks and others scudded off in all directions. Although there were at least 500 pairs of gulls nesting so close together, yet housekeeping was in no sense a communal matter. The nests were within 2 or 3 feet of each other, but each pair of gulls had its own home spot, and the invasion of that place by any other gull was the challenge for a fight U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 113 PL. 24 Big Stick Lake, Saskatchewan. A. C. Bent. Big Stick Lake, Saskatchewan. California Gull. For description see paqe 331. A. C. Bent. LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TERNS. 127 Several times we were the excited spectators of fights that were going on just outside our tent. I watched one old hen, who was very angry because She could not find her chicks. As one of her neighbors lit near she grabbed the tail of the intruder and gave it a sharp jerk. At that both birds grasped each other by the bill and a lively set-to followed. They pulled and tugged till suddenly the old hen let go and grabbed her opponent by the neck and began shaking and hanging on with all the tenacity of a bull pup, till the intruder got enough and departed, leaving the victor with a mouthful of feathers. Mr. Oliver Davie (1889) says of the nests of the California gull: The nests of this species are made oh the ground or built on rocks, and sometimes where the birds are breeding in vast colonies the nests are placed on stunted sage or greasewood bushes. They are built of sticks, grass, and a few feathers. Eggs. — As with most water birds, only one brood is raised in a season. The usual set consists of three eggs, but two are often con- sidered sufficient ; four eggs are laid occasionally, and five have been reported. The eggs are similar to other gulls' eggs, but they are usually handsomer and often more boldly marked with striking colors. The shell is thin and lusterless. The shape varies from short ovate to elongate ovate. It is usually more pointed than in other gulls' eggs, and is sometimes nearly ovate pyriform. The ground color shows a variety of shades from " Saccardo's umber" or "buffy brown," in the darker specimens, to "light drab," "smoke gray," or "olive buff," in the lighter specimens, which are much commoner. The commonest types of eggs are spotted more or less evenly with rather small spots of irregular sizes and shapes, but many of them are boldly marked with large spots and blotches ; often lighter and brighter shades of brown seem to be overlaid on spots of darker brown or gray, producing handsome effects. Some eggs are oddly decorated with fantastic scrawls and irregular lines, such as are seen on murres' eggs'. These markings are generally in the darker and richer shades of brown, such as "bone brown," "olive brown," " warm sepia," and " Vandyke brown." Nearly all eggs show underlying spots of " light violet gray," or similar colors. The measurements of 50 eggs in the United States National Museum aver- age 67.5 by 45.5 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 71.5 by 47.5, 69 by 50.5, 57.5 by 41, and 65.5 by 40.5 millimeters. T ounff.-i have no data on the period of incubation, which is probably about the same as with other large gulls. Probably both sexes incubate. The young are quite precocial; after a few days in the nest, they learn to run about and hide among the stones or under the vegetation near their nests. They are good swimmers and, even when very small, will take to the water readily and swim away until 128 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. driven back by their parents, who keep a careful watch over them. Mr. Finley (1907) says of their behaviors at this time : I soon discovered that their -greatest anxiety seemed to be to keep their children crouching low in the nest so they would not run away and get lost in the crowd. I saw one young gull start to run off through the reeds, but he hadn't gone a yard before the mother dived at him with a blow that sent him rolling. He got up dazed and started off in a new direction, but she rapped him again on the head till he was glad to crouch down in the dry reeds. The parents seemed to recognize their own chicks largely by location. Sev- eral times I saw old birds pounce upon youngsters that were running about and beat them unmercifully. It seemed to be as much the duty of a gull mother to beat her neighbor's children if they didn't stay home as to whip her own if they moved out of the nest, but often this would lead to a rough and tumble fight among the old birds. Sometimes a young gull would start to swim off in the water, but it never went far before it was pounced upon and driven back shoreward. Plumages. — The young bird, when first hatched, is covered with thick, soft down of plain, light colors to match its surroundings, " light buff " to " cartridge buff," brightest on the head and breast; the upper parts and throat are clouded or variegated with light grayish, and the head is sparingly spotted with dull black. These colors fade out to a dirty grayish white as the bird grows older. The juvenal plumage is much like that of the herring gull; the head and under- parts are dark and mottled, the dusky markings prevailing; the upper parts are boldly mottled, each feather being broadly edged with buffy white and centrally dusky. The first winter plumage, which is acquired early in the fall by a partial molt of the body feathers, is everywhere mottled with dusky, the underparts, es- pecially the neck and breast, being tinged with cinnamon; the tail, which in the young ring-billed gull is basally gray, and the primaries are uniform brownish black and the bill is dark. This plumage is worn for nearly a year or until the first postnuptial molt, when the bird is a year old. This molt is complete, producing the second winter plumage, which is more or less mottled with dusky, except on the mantle, which now becomes more or less clear "gull gray." The new primaries are nearly black, but with little or no white tips ; the tail is white at the base, becoming dusky near the tip. The bill becomes yellow at the. base, but the outer half remains dusky. A partial prenuptial molt occurs during the latter part of the winter or early spring in both old and young birds, producing whiter heads and necks. A nearly adult winter plumage is acquired at the second post- nuptial molt, when the bird is a little over 2 years old. At this molt, which is complete, the black primaries with limited white tips and the pure white tail, often subterminally marked with dusky, are acquired; the bill becomes wholly yellow. Winter adults have LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TERNS. 129 elongated dusky markings on the crown and a necklace of dusky spots on the hind neck, which are lost at the partial prenuptial molt before the next breeding season. The bright chrome yellow of the upper mandible and the vermilion of the lower mandible are characteristic of the breeding season. Subsequent seasonal molts of the adult are merely repetitions of the complete postnuptial in the summer and the partial prenuptial molt in early spring, involv- ing only the head and neck. Food. — The feeding habits of the California gull make it one of the most useful of birds to the agriculturist of the western plains, where it makes its summer home. Rev. IS. H. Goodwin (1904) says of its habits in Utah : I have watched them for hours as they circled about the newly plowed field, or followed close behind the plowman, as blackbirds do in some localities, or sunned themselves on the ridges of the furrows after a hearty meal of worms. I have studied them as they fared up and down the river in search of dead fish and other garbage, or assembled in countless numbers in some retired, quiet slough where they rent the air with their harsh, discordant cries and demoniac laughter, or sailed on graceful wing in rising circles till lost in the deep blue of heaven. Mr. Dutcher (1905) publishes the following interesting letter from Mr. John E. Cox, of the Utah Board of Agriculture : Gulls go all over the State for insects, the greatest number visiting the beet fields, where they keep down the crickets, grasshoppers, cutworms, etc. They took a new diet this summer. Some alfalfa fields were so badly honeycombed with mice holes and runs that it was impossible to irrigate them, and they were plowed up, mostly for beet culture. When the water was turned into the irrigation ditches the mice were forced out of their holes, and the gulls then caught them. They became so perfect in their work that they kept abreast of the head of the water and picked up every mouse that appeared. When gorged with victims they would vomit them up in piles on the ditch bank and recommence their feeding. Gulls are sacred in Utah, and are so tame that oftentimes they may be caught by hand as they follow the plow so closely. Dr. A. K. Fisher (1893) reports that a specimen of this species, shot at Owens Lake, California, "on December 28, had its craw full of duck meat and feathers, and from the actions of its associates when a duck was shot it was evident that they prey upon such game, since the lake affords little other food." During the two seasons that I spent in Saskatchewan we saw the California and ring-billed gulls almost daily visiting the garbage heaps on the outskirts of Maple Creek, where they found a good supply of food to vary their natural diet of insects and other animal food picked up on the prairies and about the lakes. During their winter sojourn on the Pacific coast they follow the example of others of their kind and become largely scavengers about the harbors. They also, probably, feed on fish to some extent. 130 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL, MUSEUM. Behavior. — Mr. Finley (1907) refers to their powers of flight as follows : These gulls are masters in the air. I have watched by the hour birds similar to these following along in the wake of a steamer, but had never before had such chances with a camera. Often they poise, resting apparently motionless on outstretched wings. It is a difficult feat. A small bird can not do it. A sparrow hawk can only poise by the rapid beating of his wings. The gull seems to hang perfectly still ; yet there is never an instant when the wings and tail are not constantly adjusted to meet the different air currents; just as in shooting the rapids in a canoe the paddle must be adjusted every moment to meet the different eddies, currents, and whirlpools, and it is never the same in two different instants. A gull by the perfect adjustment of its body, without a single flap of the wings, makes headway straight in the teeth of the wind. I saw one retain a perfect equilibrium in a stiff breeze and at the same time reach forward and scratch his ear. Mr. Dawson (1909) pays the following tribute to their prowess on the wing: Graceful, effortless, untiring, but above all mysterious, is that power of propulsion by which the bird moves forward into the teeth of the gale ; indeed, is advanced all the more certainly and freely when the wind is strong. From the deck of a steamer making 15 miles an hour against a 15-knot breeze, I once stretched my hand toward a soaring gull. He lay suspended in mid-air without the flutter of a feather, while the air rushed past him at the rate of 30 miles an hour; and he maintained the same relative position to my hand, at 5 or 6 feet, for about a minute. When he tired of the game, he shot forward. And again, there was not in the motion the slightest perceptible effort of propulsion, but only a slightly sharper inclination of the body and wings downward. We see clearly how it must be, yet we can not understand it. The gull is a kite and gravity the string. The bird is a continually falling body, and the wind is continually preventing the catastrophe. Yes, we see it — but then, gravity isn't a string, you know; and so why doesn't the wind take the kite along with it? Well, there you are; and not even Hamilton, who discovered quater- nions, could have given the mathematics of it. My knowledge of the vocal powers of the California gull is con- fined to what I heard and noted on its breeding grounds, where its vocabulary was limited. The ordinary cry was a soft, low. " kow, kow, kow," or " kuk, kuk, kuk," much like the notes of other gulls. When the birds became much excited or alarmed they indulged in shrill, sharp, piercing cries. Gulls are usually silent birds, but while feeding, quarreling, or showing active emotions, they have a variety of notes to express their feelings or to communicate their ideas to their fellows, all of which seem to be understood. California gulls seems to be quiet, gentle, harmless birds, and I have no evidence to show that they do any appreciable damage to the various species with which they are associated on their breeding grounds, though they do occasionally steal a few eggs from un- protected nests. They have been found nesting in colonies with ring-billed gulls, Caspian terns, white pelicans, double-crested LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TERNS. 131 cormorants, and great blue herons. So far as I know they have no formidable enemies among birds and are not much molested by man. They select for their breeding grounds islands in remote lakes far from the haunts of man, where they are probably safe until the encroachments of civilization drive them out. They are not suspicious or wild; in fact, they are much tamer than most gulls, but they do not seem to be fond of human society. Winter. — The fall migration is westward to the Pacific coast or southwestward to the large inland lakes of the Southwestern States and Mexico, where they spend the winter, associating on the coast with various other species of gulls. DISTRIBUTION. Breeding range. — Western North America. East to Great Slave Lake and northeastern North Dakota (Stump and Devils Lake). South to northwestern Wyoming (Yellowstone Lake) , northern Utah (Great Salt Lake), western Nevada (Pyramid Lake), and north- eastern California (Eagle Lake) . West to central southern Oregon (Klamath Lakes) and central British Columbia. North to northern Mackenzie (Anderson Eiver region). Occurs in summer from Washington (Bellingham Bay) to southeastern Alaska (Ketchikan) , but not known to breed there. Breeding grounds protected in the following national reservations : In California, Clear Lake; in Nevada, Anaho Island (Pyramid Lake) ; in Oregon, Klamath and Malheur Lakes; in Wyoming, Yellowstone National Park. Winter range. — Pacific coast, from southern British Columbia southward to southwestern Mexico (San Mateo), and from northern Utah (Great Salt Lake) southward to the Gulf of California; rarely east to the coast of Texas. Spring migration. — Northeastward to the interior. Early dates of arrival: North Dakota, Devils Lake, April 24; British Columbia, Okanagan Lake, April 11. Late dates of departure: Lower Cali- fornia, San Jose del Cabo, May 17; California, Monterey, May 19. Fall migration. — Southwestward toward the coast. Early dates of arrival: British Columbia, Chilliwack, August 26; Washington, Seattle, August 31 ; Oregon, Netarts Bay, September 8 ; California, Monterey, August 21 to October 9; Lower California, Magdalena Bay, November 24. Late dates of departure: Mackenzie, Hay Eiver, November 5; Kansas, Eeno County, October 20. Casual records. — Has been recorded in the Hawaiian Islands (Bryan) and in Japan (Seebohm^ 132 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. Egg dates. — Utah and Nevada : Fifty-six records, May 8 to June 26 ; twenty-eight records, May 13 to 20. North Dakota and Sas- katchewan : Twelve records, June 4 to 22. California : Six records, May 18 to 25. LABUS DELAWARENSIS Old. BING-BILLED GULL. HABITS. Audubon (1840) referred to this species as "The Common Ameri- can Gull," a title which would hardly be warranted to-day, although, with the possible exception of the herring gull, it is the most widely distributed and most universally common of any of the large gulls. In Audubon's time it was probably more widely distributed and cer- tainly more abundant in some localities than it is now; he refers to its breeding on " several islands between Boston and Eastport, an- other close to Grand Manan at the entrance of the Bay of Fundy, the great Gannet Rock of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and certain rocky isles in the deep bays on the coast of Labrador." I have visited all of these localities without finding or hearing of any breeding colonies of ring-billed gulls, and I can not find anything in the published records to indicate that they have bred at any of these places in recent years, except a few shifting colonies near Cape Whittle in southern Labrador, found by Mr. M. Abbott Frazar (1887) in 1884, and one found by Dr. Charles W. Townsend, referred to below. The ring-billed gull yields readily to persecution, is easily driven away from its breeding grounds, and seems to prefer to breed in remote unsettled regions, far from the haunts of man. It could never survive the egging depredations which the herring gull has withstood successfully ; hence its breeding range has been gradually curtailed as the country has become settled. Although its former breeding range was nearly as extensive as that of the herring gull, it is now mainly restricted to the interior, in the lakes of the prairies arid plains of the Northern States and Canada, where it far out- numbers the herring gull and is still the common gull. Here it is probably holding its own except where civilization is driving it out. In North Dakota in 1901, in Saskatchewan in 1905 and 1906, and in Manitoba in 1913 we saw it almost daily about nearly all the lakes we visited and we found numerous breeding colonies. Dr. P. L. Hatch (1892) stated that they had become much more numerous in Minnesota through a gradual increase since 1857, being " extensively distributed over the lacustrine regions of the Commonwealth, breed- ing in all places adapted to their habits." U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 113 PL. 25 Big Stick Lake, Saskatchewan. A. C. Bent. Big Stick Lake, Saskatchewan. Ring-Billed Gull. For description see page 331. LIFE HISTORIES OE NORTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TERNS. 133 Courtship.— According to Audubon (1840) mating takes place be- fore the birds reach their breeding grounds. He says : When spring has fairly commenced, our common gulls assemble in parties of hundreds, and alight on mud flats or sandy beaches, in out eastern estuaries and bays. For awhile they regularly resort to these places, which to the gulls are what the scratching or tooting grounds are to the pinnated grouse. The male gulls, however, although somewhat pugnacious, and not very inveterate in their quarrels, making up by clamor for the deficiency of prowess in their tournaments. The males bow to the females with swollen throats, and walk round them with many odd gesticulations. As soon as the birds are paired they give up their animosities, and for the rest of the season live together on the best terms. After a few weeks spent in these preparatory pleasures, the flocks take to wing, and betake themselves to their breeding places. Nesting. — My first experience with the nesting habits of the ring- billed gull was on "the enchanted isles" of Stump Lake, North Dakota, three small islands in a western arm of the lake, now in- cluded in the Stump Lake Eeservation. On May 31, 1901, and again on June 15, 1901, I visited these interesting islands, with Mr. Her- bert K. Job (1898) who had previously described and named them. Two of the islands contained breeding colonies of ring-billed gulls, consisting of about 100 pairs each; one held a colony of about 75 pairs of double-crested cormorants ; and one a large colony of com- mon terns. All of them offered suitable nesting sites for various species of ducks, of which we found no less than 40 nests on June 15. Certainly the bird population of these little islands warranted Mr. Job's title. The gulls' nests were placed upon the ground along the upper edges of the beaches and among the rocks and bowlders which were scattered all over the islands. They were made of dried grasses and weeds, sometimes of small sticks; were lined with finer grasses and were often decorated with feathers. On May 31 all the nests contained eggs, many of which had been incubated a week or 10 days; on June 15 not over one quarter of the eggs had hatched and many of them still held incomplete sets. One of the most interesting gull colonies I have ever found was on a small island in Big Stick Lake, Saskatchewan, on June .14, 1906, where large numbers of this and the preceding species were breeding, together with a number of other water birds. I have already described this colony more fully in my account of the nest- ing habits of the California gull. The nests of the ring-billed gulls were on the higher portions of the island, somewhat apart from those of the larger species, but mingled with them to some extent. The nests were made of dead weeds, straws, rubbish, and feathers; they measured from 10 to 12 inches in diameter, and the inner cavity was about 9 inches across and 2 inches deep> Most of the nests were in open situations, but some were partially hidden among the rocks 134 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. and low bushes. About half of the eggs had hatched, and the downy young were running about or hiding. Ring-billed gulls were common at Lake Winnipegosis, Manitoba, in 1913. We saw them almost daily and examined several breeding colonies. They were on small rocky islets or reefs, where bowlders had been piled up a few feet above high water and a little soil had accumulated about them. On one very small reef, not over 25 yards long, I counted 10 nests of ring-billed gulls and 45 nests of double- crested cormorants. The islet was thickly covered with nests of the common tern, of which I estimated that there were about a thousand pairs. Another thickly populated island, but slightly larger, was visited on June 19. It was similar to the other reefs — an accumula- tion of bowlders, with sandy or stony shores and some soil in the center, sparsely overgrown with nettles. A cloud of gulls and terns were hovering over it, which I estimated to contain about 100 pairs of ring-billed gulls and 500 pairs of common terns. There was also a small colony of double-crested cormorants nesting on the rocks at one end. The nests of the gulls and terns were closely in- termingled, sometimes three or four nests within one square yard, showing that the two species were living in apparent harmony. The gulls' nests were very poorly built affairs, the poorest I had ever seen, consisting in many cases of mere hollows lined with a few sticks and straws. Some of them were more elaborate and some were pret- tily decorated with feathers or lined with green weeds or leaves. Most of the nests contained three eggs, but many of them only two. No young were seen. Audubon (1840) found them breeding on the Gannet Eock, early in June, " on the shelves toward the summit, along with the guille- mots, while the kittiwakes had secured their nests far below." This undoubtedly refers to Bird Eock in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, where none of this species have been found breeding in recent years. Dr. Charles W. Townsend writes me : On July 16, 1915, 1 found a breeding colony of ring-billed gulls on Gull Island near Sealnet Point or Point au Maurier, on the Canadian Labrador coast. The island is close to the shore, is composed of granitic rock with sparse vegetation of grass and low herbs, and is some 10 acres in extent. On the highest ground about 200 pairs of ring-billed gulls had their nests. These nests were composed of moss, sprigs of curlew-berry vine, dried grass, and dried-weed stalks. The nests were 12 inches in outside diameter, 6 or 7 inside diameter, generally very thin, but sometimes built up to a height of 3 or 4 inches. They were placed on the bare rock or among the grass. A few herring gulls, eiders, razor-billed auks, and black guillemots were also nesting on the island. Mr. William L. Finley (1907) describes a large colony of Cali- fornia and ring-billed gulls which he found breeding on a marshy island of floating tules in Klamath Lake, Oregon, which is a decided departure from their usual habit of nesting on solid ground. U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 113 PL. 26 / Prince William Sound. Alaska. G. G. Cantwell. Big Stick Lake, Saskatchewan. Ring-Billed Gull. For description see page 332. A. C. Bent. LIFE HISTORIES OF HORTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TERN'S. 135 Mr. George Gr. Cantwell has sent me a photograph of a remarkable nest of a ring-billed gull which he found at Prince William Sound, Alaska, in June, 1912. His notes state that the nest was " made of usual material, but unique in the matter of situation, placed in the crown of a dwarf spruce, that grew to the height of about 4 feet above the surface of a small rock, upon which it had taken root. The rock set in an open bay of the salt water, about one-half a mile from shore. On other near-by islands a colony of Arctic terns were nesting, and on the bars of a stream on the near-by mainland other ring-billed gulls had nests. This was the only nest noted in the trees there, or on any other occasion." Effgs.—The ring-billed gull normally raises but one brood, and the full set usually consists of three eggs ; often only two eggs are laid, and sets of four are very rare. The eggs are subject to the usual varia- tions in gulls' eggs. In shape they are usually ovate or short ovate ; the shell is smooth, thin, and almost lusterless. The ground color varies from " Brussel's brown " or " snuff brown " to " pinkish buff " or " cartridge buff " in the commoner types of eggs ; in the greener types of eggs, which are rarer, the ground color varies from " deep olive buff " to " pale olive buff," or in some cases to " yellowish glau- cous," which makes the egg look much greener than it really is. The prevailing types of eggs show the usual markings of gulls' eggs — spots and blotches of various sizes and shapes irregularly distributed; some eggs are finely speckled all over; in some the markings are confluent into a ring; and some are handsomely decorated with ir- regular scrawls, splashes, or blotches. Nearly all eggs show under- lying spots or blotches of various shades of " quaker drab," lavender or " mouse gray." These markings are very faint in the lighter types. The heavier and darker markings are made up of various shades of brown, often several shades on the same egg overlapping each other as if superimposed; these vary from " blackish brown " or " fuscous black " to " burnt umber," « russet," or " Dresden brown." Often the darkest markings are on the lightest colored eggs, making strong contrasts. The measurements of 40 eggs in the United States Na- tional Museum and the author's collections average 59.3 by 42.3 milli- meters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 64.5 by 42 5 59.5 by 44.5, 54 by 40.5, and 60.5 by 40 millimeters. Young.-^ The period of incubation is about 21 days. The young remain in the nest for a few days, but soon learn to run about and hide among the rocks or under the vegetation near their nests. They learn to swim at an early age, and may often be seen swimming out from the shores of their island home when disturbed. They are care- fully guarded by their anxious parents and driven back to dry land as soon as the dangerous intruder has departed. They seem to ap- preciate the value of their protective coloring, and will remain hid- 174785—21 10 136 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. den until forced to run, when theybecome very lively. They are fed by their parents until able to fly and forage for themselves. tPlv/mages.— The downy young have at least two distinct color phases, both of which are often found in the same nest. In the gray phase the upper parts are "smoke gray" or "pale smoke gray"; in the buffy phase the upper parts are " pinkish buff " or " vinaceous buff." They are lighter below and almost white on the breast ; they are distinctly spotted with " hair brown " or " sepia " on the head and neck, and more faintly mottled with the same color on the back; The juvenal plumage is not fully acquired until the young bird is about fully grown, the down disappearing last on the chest and thighs. The upper parts are heavily and boldly mottled; each feather of the back, scapulars, lesser wing coverts, and tertials is centrally dusky, broadly tipped, and margined with " pinkish buff," most conspicuously on the scapulars. The greater wing coverts are largely "gull gray," becoming dusky near the tips, and some are tipped or edged with buffy. The primaries are mostly black, with narrow white tips ; the tail is largely " gull gray," somewhat mottled, and with a broad subterminal band of dusky, tipped with white or buffy white. The tail is never wholly dusky, as in the young California gull, a good diagnostic character. The under parts are largely white ; the crown and breast are heavily mottled with dusky, and the sides are barred with the same. The bill is dusky, with the inner half of the lower mandible light yellowish. Except for a molt of some of the body plumage, the first winter plumage is a continuation of the juvenal; the buffy edgings fade out to white and wear away ; many new feathers, partially " gull gray" with dusky markings, come in on the back; and the dusky markings fade and wear away or are replaced by white on the breast and head during the winter. A partial prenuptial molt in- creases the amount of white on the head and under parts. A .complete postnuptial molt produces the second winter plum- age, in which the back is mainly or wholly " gull gray," the feathers narrowly edged with whitish, and the greater wing-coverts are largely the same; the lesser wing-coverts are still mottled with dusky ; there is much dusky in the tertials and secondaries, and the primaries are plain brownish black. The tail is whiter basally, but has a broad subterminal dusky band. The head and neck are heavily streaked and spotted with dusky, but the under parts are mainly White. The inner half of the bill is yellowish and the outer half black. The partial prenuptial molt produces pure white under parts and nearly a pure white head, with a clear "gull gray" back. At the next complete molt, the second postnuptial, when the bird is 2 years old, the fully adult plumage is perhaps assumed by some birds ; but many, probably a decided majority, still retain signs LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN GUIAS AND TERNS. 137 of immaturity during the third year. The new primaries in such birds are black, but they have only a faint suggestion of the subter- minal white spot on the outer primary or none at all; undoubtedly these spots increase in size with the successive molts. There is more or less dusky in the tertials, and the tail has the black sub- terminal band more or less clearly indicated. The remainder of the plumage and the bill is now like the adult. Such birds would be- come fully adult at the age of 3 years. I have one bird in my series which is quite heavily mottled with dusky on the breast, but is other- wise fully adult. The complete postnuptial molt of both adults and young occurs mainly in August and September, but I have seen the molt be- ginning as early as June. The partial prenuptial molt, involving the contour feathers only, occurs mainly in March. The winter adult is similar to the spring adult, except for a few narrow streaks of dusky on the crown and hind neck; these are less in evidence in older birds. Food.— The feeding habits of this species make it as fully bene- ficial as any of the gulls. . Throughout the agricultural regions of the western plains, where it is more abundant, it is often seen in the spring following the plow, picking up worms, grubs, grasshoppers, and other insects. It also does effective work by feeding on field mice and other small rodents. Dr. J. A. Allen, according to Baird, Brewer, .and Eidgway (1884), states in regard to their feeding habits in Salt Lake Valley : At the period of his visit these birds spent much of their time on the sand bars of Weber River, and at certain hours of the day rose in the air to feast on the grasshoppers, on which they, seemed at this time almost wholly to sub- sist. The stomachs of those gulls that were killed were not only filled with grasshoppers, but some birds had stuffed themselves so full that these could be seen when the birds opened their mouths. And it was a curious fact that the gulls captured the grasshoppers in the air and not by walking over the ground, as they have been said to do. Sailing around in broad circles, as though soaring merely for pleasure, the birds seized the flying grasshoppers as easily, if not as gracefully, as a swallow while in rapid flight secures its prey, of smaller insects. I have seen ring-billed gulls hovering over a flock of feeding red- breasted mergansers and darting down at them as they rose to the surface. They were apparently trying to rob them of or make them drop some of the fish they had caught. We found this and the foregoing species frequenting regularly the garbage dumps on the outskirts of the prairie towns and acting as scavengers along the shores of the lakes in Saskatchewan. On the seacoasts it does its part with other species in cleaning up the floating refuse in our harbors, and gathers in large numbers where garbage is regularly dumped, feasting on the miscellaneous diet it finds. ., It 138 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. does considerable damage on its breeding grounds by destroying the eggs of other species associated with it. I have seen a party of ring- billed gulls break and suck nearly every egg in a colony of double- crested cormorants when the latter had been kept off their nests for an hour or two ; but I doubt if they would have dared to molest them if the cormorants had not been driven away by our presence. It occasionally robs the nests of the avocet, but it does not seem to molest the nests of the common tern, with which it is intimately associated; and I have never known of its disturbing any of the ducks which nest on its breeding grounds. Probably the terns are able to defend their eggs and the duck's nests are too well hidden. Behavior. — The flight of the ring-billed gull is not markedly dif- ferent from that of the other larger gulls ; it is light and graceful as well as strong and long sustained. It can poise stationary in the air when facing a good breeze without moving its wings except to adjust them to the changing air currents, and can even sail along against the wind in the same manner. It is often so poised while looking for food on the water, but if the wind conditions are not favorable it is obliged to hover. When food is discovered it either plunges straight downward or floats down more slowly in a spiral curve, and picks up its food without wetting its plumage. When alighting on the water its wings are held high above it as it drops lightly down with dangling feet. It swims gracefully and buoyantly, sitting lightly on the surface. It rises neatly from the water. It has no very distinctive field- marks and closely resembles several other species, but it is somewhat smaller than the California gull and very much smaller than the herring gull; it also has a lighter gray mantle and less white in its black wing tips. The black ring in its bill is not always in evidence and can not be seen at any distance. Its notes are similar to those of other closely related gulls, but they are on a higher key than those of the two larger species referred to above. When alarmed or when its breeding grounds are invaded it utters a shrill, piercing note of protest — kree, kreeee — like the cry of a hawk, but when its excitement has somewhat subsided this note is softened and modified and the subdued how, kow kow notes are often heard from a flock of gulls floating overhead. It is often noisy while feeding, while a cloud of hovering gulls show their ex- citement by a chorus of loud squealing notes and shrill screams. While pursuing its ordinary vocations it is usually silent, except for an occasional soft, mellow kowk. The ring-billed gull is a highly gregarious species, both on its breeding grounds and in its winter resorts, congregating in large flocks of its own species and associating with a variety of other species, with all of whom it seems to live in perfect harmony. Ex- cept for its cowardly, egg-robbing habits, it is a gentle and harmless LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TERNS. 139 creature. It seems to have no enemies from, which it has much to fear except man. Its universal habit of nesting on islands saves it from the attacks of predatory animals. Winter. — During the winter months much of its time is spent; at sea following the coastwise vessels in company with other gulls in search of such morsels as it may pick up, hovering in clouds about our harbors where garbage is dumped, or resting in large flocks on sand bars or mud flats at low tide — a season of rest and recreation, with freedom to roam where it will. DISTRIBUTION. Breeding range. — Mainly in southern Canada. East to Hamilton Inlet and southern Labrador (Point au Maurier). South to northern New York (Adirondacks, casually), central Ontario (Muskoka Lake, Georgian Bay, etc.), Lakes Huron and Michigan (formerly), Wisconsin (Green Bay, formerly) , northern North Dakota (Devil's Lake region) , and northern Utah (Great Salt Lake) . West to central southern Oregon (Klamath Lakes) British Columbia (Shuswap Lake), and southern Alaska (Prince William Sound). North to cen- tral Mackenzie (Great Slave Lake) , eastern Keewatin (north of Fort Churchill), and James Bay (Fort George). Breeding grounds protected in the following national reservations : In Oregon, Malheur Lake ; in North Dakota, Stump Lake. Winter range.— From Massachusetts (irregularly) southward along the Atlantic coast to Florida and Cuba; and along the Gulf Coast to Mexico (Tehuantepec) ; west to the Pacific coasts of Mex- ico and the United States, southward to Oaxaca, and northward to British Columbia; in the interior north to .Colorado (Barr Lakes), more rarely Idaho (Fort Sherman), Montana (Lewiston), and the Great Lakes (Chicago and Detroit). Spring migration.— Northward along Atlantic coast and in the interior; northeastward from the Pacific coast. Early dates of ar- rival: Connecticut, Saybrook, March 8; Newfoundland, April 19; Missouri, St. Louis, March 7; Iowa, Keokuk, March 8, and Storm Lake, March 15; South Dakota, Sioux Falls, March 19, and Ver- milion, March 31; North Dakota, Devils Lake, average April 16 earhest April 11; southern Manitoba, average April 25 earliest April 21 ^Mackenzie, Pelican Kiver, May 9. Late dates of departure : S° nda ' S lg Gas P ariIIa Pass > Ma 7 22; North Carolina, Pea Island, May 10; New Jersey, Atlantic City, June 20; Texas, Corpus Christi tf^i, Lomsiana > N ew Orleans, April 28; Missouri, Kansas City May 3 ; Wisconsin, Madison, May 17. Fall m^ro&n.-Eastward, southward, and westward to the coasts. Early dates of arrival: Massachusetts, Chatham, Septem- 140 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. ber 7 ; South Carolina, Charleston, September 26 ; Florida, Fernan- dina, September 16; Mississippi, Bay St. Louis, October 10; Califor- nia, Los Angeles County, September 17. Late dates of departure : Gulf of St. Lawrence, Anticosti Island, September 18; Massachu- setts, Woods Hole, November 17; North Dakota, Harrisburg, Octo- ber 17 ; Colorado, Denver, November 12 ; Utah, Provo, November 30. Casual reconfo.— Accidental in Hawaiian Islands (one taken in winter 1901) and in Bermuda (January 1, 1849). Egg dates. — North Dakota : Forty-eight records, May 9 to June 22 ; twenty-four records, May 31 to June 15. Saskatchewan and Mani- toba: Seventeen records, June 4 to 23. Quebec Labrador: Ten records, June 20 to 30. LARUS BRACHYRHYNCHUS Richardson. SHOBT-BILLED GULL. '.< HABITS. The North American counterpart of the common mew gull of Europe is so closely related to it that many ornithologists question the specific distinction of the two species. The characters on which they are separated are very slight and not very constant ; there is so much individual variation in both forms that they seem to intergrade and may yet be proven to be no more than subspecies. The short- billed gull is a widely distributed and common species throughout the whole of the interior of Alaska and the northern portions of the northwest territories. It is a marsh-loving species and frequents all the flat marshy country .of the coast and interior, as well as much of the wooded region in the vicinity of lakes, ponds, and streams. Spring. — Mr. Lucien M. Turner (1886) says : The short-billed gull arrives at St. Michael according to the openness of the season. It comes in few numbers as soon as large cracks are made in the ice. This may be early as the 1st of May or as late as the 25th. The season of 1874 was unusually open. Upon our arrival at St. Michael, on May 25, hun- dreds of these gulls were flying over the bay. In the course of a few days they became less, so that by the middle of June only few pairs were seen. In later years they were not abundant at any time, though the breaking up of the ice was accompanied with visits of numbers of them. Turner's failure to note them after the middle of June was doubt- less due to their being busy with family duties. Early in June they forsake the outer bays and scatter over the tundra where they con- struct their nests. Often their breeding places are several miles back from the coast, which they visit less frequently until after the young are on the wing. U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 113 PL. 27 Lake Athabasca, Saskatchewan. F. Harper. Lake Athabaska, Saskatchewan. Short-Billed Gull. For description see page 332. F. Harper. U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 113 PL. 28 St. Michael, Alaska. F. S. Hersey. St. Michael, Alaska. Short-Billed Gull. FOR DESCRIPTION SEE PAGE 332. F. S. Hersey. LIFE HISTOEIES OF NOKTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TEENS. 141 Nesting.— Mr. Hersey found a nest of this gull near St. Michael, Alaska, on June 19, 1915, containing an egg on the point of hatch- ing and a young bird only a few hours' old. The nest was on a small islet in a tundra pond; the islet was only a few yards long and about 2 feet above the level of the water. The nest was merely a hollow in the ground, about 8 inches in diameter and 3£ inches deep, scantily lined with dry grass; it was located in the center and on the highest part of the islet. His notes say : When about one-eighth of a mile away one of the parents flew about above me screaming loudly. As I drew nearer the bfrd came lower down and when within 75 yards of the nest she flew directly over it and hovered. While photographing it both birds darted repeatedly at my head, and when I finally left they followed me for half a mile. Dr. Joseph Grinnell (1900) made some interesting observations on the nesting habits of this species on the Kowak delta, Alaska. He writes : The lakes which the short-billed gulls mostly frequented were usually sur- rounded by spruce trees, which in the delta are more low and scrubby than farther in the interior. I had in vain searched for the gulls' nests on small bare islets in the lakes and on grassy points, such as the gulls with which I was previously familiar would be likely to select for nesting sites. Although I failed to find any sign of nests, still the birds, by their uneasy actions, inti- mated that there must be eggs or young somewhere. Finally on the 16th of June I determined to discover the secret, and, armed with patience, selected a secluded hiding place among some scrub spruces near a lake, yet where I had a good view of it. Two pairs of short-billed gulls kept flying about above me for a long time, occasionally alighting on the tops of the spruces surrounding the lake. I kept track of each of the four gulls as best I could, and finally saw one settle close down on the bushy top of a tree on the other side of the lake. Then it dawned on me that the nests might be in trees. I took my bearings on the tree, and started around the lake. Before I had nearly reached the vicinity I was met by the gulls, one of which began to dive at me again and again. It would fly high above me and then swoop down past my head with a shrill, startling scream. Just as the bird passed me it would void a limy mass of faeces, and with such disagreeable precision that I was soon streaked with white. On Climbing the spruce, which was about 12 feet tall, I discovered the nest. It was almost completely hidden from below by the flat, bushy top of the spruce on which it was placed. The nest was a shapeless mass of slender twigs and hay, 9 inches across on top. There was scarcely any depression and I found the shells of two of the eggs broken on the ground beneath, probably pitched out by a severe wind of the day before. The single egg secured was considerably incubated. After I left the nest the gulls followed me a long ways, dashing down at me at intervals as before described. I found several more nests by carefully examining the bushy topped spruces around lakes, but none contained eggs. Probably the jaegers which I saw in the vicinity were responsible for this. One of the nests was only about 7 feet above the water on a leaning spruce at the edge of a pond. The rest of the nests were from 10 to 20 feet above the ground in spruces growing nearest the water's edge. 142 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. Mr. Roderick McFarlane (1891), who collected many sets of eggs in the Anderson River region, says : Its nest is usually a small cavity in the sand by the side of a stream or a sheet of water ; but it also frequently builds on a stump or tree, and in such cases dry twigs, hay, and mosses, are used in its construction. The parents do their utmost to drive away intruders. Eggs. — The short-billed gull ordinarily lays three eggs, but often only two. They are ovate or short ovate in shape; usually the former. The ground color varies from " Saccardo's umber " or " Isa- bella color " to "olive buff." The eggs are spotted and blotched evenly or irregularly or in a wreath near the larger end, with the darker shades of brown, such as " bone brown," " bister," " sepia," or "snuff brown"; also with various shades of "brownish drab." Sometimes the eggs are finely scrawled. The measurements of 40 eggs, in the United States National Museum average 57 by 41 milli- meters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 63 by 41.5. 58.5 by 43, 50.5 by 40.5, and 51.5 by 37 millimeters. Plumages. — The young, when first hatched, is well covered with a warm coat of soft, thick down, " pale drab-gray " to " pale smoke- gray " on the upper parts, sides, and throat; "pale pinkish buff" on the breast and belly ; and tinged with the latter color on the sides of the head and neck. The frontal and loral region is clear black. The sides of the head and neck are boldly and clearly spotted with black in a very distinct pattern, the spots coalescing into an indis- tinct Y on the crown; an irregular W on the occiput; a large, dis- tinct crescent on the cervix; and a small crescent on the throat. The remainder of the upper parts are heavily but less distinctly mottled with duller black, becoming grayer posteriorly. The under parts are unspotted. I have not seen any specimens showing the development of the first plumage from the downy stage, but I have a good series of young birds collected in August. This plumage shows considerable individual variation, but is always more or less heavily mottled both above and below. Often the throat, and sometimes the belly, is nearly or quite immaculate white ; sometimes the entire under parts, below the throat, as well as the neck and head, are uniform " drab- gray," or "vinaceous gray," and always these parts are heavily clouded with these colors. The feathers of the back, scapulars, and wing-coverts are centrally dusky and broadly edged with pale-grayish buff; the primaries are uniformly dusky; the rectrices are basally gray, somewhat mottled, with nearly the terminal half dusky, and white-tipped. From this plumage the progress toward maturity be- gins early and continues all through the first year, by fading, wear, and molt. The "gull gray" of the mantle sometimes begins to appear in November, and by April or May this color predominates LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TERNS. 143 on the back. The white increases on the head and underparts, so that in the spring some individuals are largely white below; but in most cases the bellies are more or less clouded with dusky. The wings and tail also fade out to nearly white in the lighter areas. A complete postnuptial molt produces the second winter plumage, which is worn for one year. This much resembles the adult plumage. The head and neck are heavily mottled with dusky in the fall, but become pure white by wear and molt during the winter and spring. The back is wholly " gull gray," and the wings are largely so, but there is some dusky mottling on the bend of the wing. The tail is largely white, but there is a subterminal black band, varying in extent in different individuals. The primaries are brownish black, not deep black as in adults, with a large white spot near the tip of the outer and sometimes a smaller one on the second. At the second postnuptial molt, which is complete, the adult winter plumage is usually assumed at the age of about 2 years. This is the same as the adult nuptial plumage, except that the head is streaked, the throat is spotted, and the neck is clouded with dusky, all of which disappears at the partial prenuptial molt. The white spaces and gray wedges in the primaries' are not always fully de- veloped in third-year birds, but become more pronounced at suc- ceeding molts. Other traces of immaturity are often retained dur- ing the third winter. Food.^-Mr. Turner (1886) gives the following account of the feeding habits of the short-billed gull : At Atkha Island, in the early part of August, 18T9, a small species of fish (Mallotus villosus) was thrown up by the waves onto the beach. These fish cast their spawn in the sand and is covered by the next wave. The gulls of this species follow the wake of these fishes, and during the spawning season devour many thousands of them. At Amchitka Island I observed this species frequenting the beach at low tide and securing the sea urchins, which occur plentifully. The birds seize the prey, carry it several yards into the air and then drop it on the rocks, or, as it frequently happens, into the little pools left by the receding tide. These pools are of variable depth, but when of not more than a few inches deep, the bird again took the object to drop it, perhaps into the same place ; evidently not with the intention of washing any objectionable matter from its surface, but simply from the fact that the bird had not yet learned to calculate the law of falling bodies, yet when the shellfish was dropped on the rocks and broken open the bird greedily devoured the well- filled ovaries. These gulls and the ravens frequently carry the shells far to the inland and . there break them open with their beaks, The old shells may be frequently found on a knoll of ground or tuft of grass. Doctor Nelson (1887) says that " along the coast of Bering Sea they feed upon sticklebacks and other small fry which abound in the sluggish streams and lakes." Mr. E. A. Preble (1908) found that "three specimens collected May 12 had been feeding on water beetles {Dytiscus dauricus)." Mr. Hersey frequently saw them feedino- on 144 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL, MUSEUM. the garbage dumps near St. Michael. During the fall and winter they forage regularly with the larger gulls about the harbors and shores where garbage and other offal is to be found. Behavior. — In its flight and swimming habits the short-billed gull does not differ materially from the larger species. Mr. Hersey observed that the adults show considerable curiosity, following the intruder about over the tundra, and that the young are even tamer, circling about within 15 or 20 feet for several minutes at a time, turning the head from side to side and watching intently, but making no sound. Doctor Grinnell (1900) remarks: Their usual notes are louder and sharper than those of the glaucous gulls and remind one of the bark of a terrier. Doctor Nelson (1887) says: They show considerable curiosity upon the appearance of an intruder, and very frequently, follow one for some distance, uttering a sharp, querulous "kwew," kwew." When one or more are shot the others circle about a few times, but show very little solicitude over the fate of their companions. From the 18th to 25th of July most of the young are able to fly, and early in August old and young gather along the courses of streams or near the larger lakes. From this time on many of the birds are found also about low spits and mud flats along the coast. The young frequently follow boats for long distances on a stream or near shore, and they are so unsuspicious that they may almost be knocked down with a paddle. The old birds pass through the fall moult the latter half of August, and by the middle of September they are in the new dress and gradually disappear from the north, until by the end of this month they become rare. In September they fraternize more commonly with the kittiwake than at any other season in the bays and along the coast. Mr. Hersey's notes, however, state : When the young are well grown and able to fly they join the flocks of glaucous gulls feeding about the bays and tide creeks. They appear to prefer the society of this species to that of their own kind, as I have repeatedly observed. Flocks of adult short-billed gulls have been met with continually without seeing any young, but practically every flock of glaucous will contain at least two young short bills. Generally two are found together, probably a family. Winter. — The fall migration carries the short-billed gulls down the Pacific coast to their winter range from Puget Sound to southern California, where they are fairly common all winter, associated with Pacific kittiwakes, glaucous-winged, western, herring, and Bona- parte's gulls — a mixed party of seacoast scavengers. Mr. W. L. Daw- son (1909) gives the following account of this species on the coast of Washington in winter : A certain childish innocence and simplicity appear to distinguish these birds from the more sophisticated herrings and glaucous-wings. They are the small fry of the great gull companies which throng our borders in winter, allowed to LIFE HISTORIES OE NORTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TERNS. 145 share, indeed, when Petro dumps a rich load of restaurant waste, but expected to take a grumbling back seat when the supply of food is more limited. One may see at a glance that they are not fitted for competition. Their bills are not only shorter, but much more delicately proportioned than those of the other gulls; while their gabbling, duck-like notes oppose a mild alto to the screams and high trumpetings of their larger congeners. Gulls of this and allied species are quick to appreciate the advantages of protected areas. Along the water front or near steamers, where shooting would not be allowed, they become very bold. Short-bills, however, do not stand about on palings, piles, and roofs, as do the glaucous-wings, but rest, Instead, almost exclusively on the water. Thus, if one attempts to bait the gulls with an offering of bread laid on the wharf rail, the larger gulls will begin to line the neighboring rails and posts, craning their necks hungrily or snatching ex- posed fragments ; but the short-bills will settle upon the water and draw near to the piling below, content to catch such crumbs as fall from the high-set table. DISTRIBUTION. Breeding range. — Northwestern North America. East to Mackenzie Valley. South to northern Saskatchewan and Alberta (Athabasca Lake), northern British Columbia (Atlin Lake) and southern Alaska (Glacier Bay and Prince William Sound). West to the Ber- ing Sea coast of Alaska (Nushagak and Norton Sound) and St. Law- rence Island. North to northern Alaska (Kowak Eiver and Cape Lisburne), Herschel and Baillie Islands, and northern Mackenzie (Fort Anderson). Winter range. — Pacific coast of the United States from the south- ern end of Vancouver Island and the Puget Sound region southward to southern California (San Diego). Spring migration. — Northward along the coast and eastward to the interior. Early dates of arrival: British Columbia, Queen Char- lotte Sound, April 6; Alaska, Admiralty Island, April 24, Mount McKinley, May 10, St. Michael, May 11, and Kowak River, May 15; Mackenzie, Fort Simpson, May 8, and Great Bear Lake, May 23. Fall migration. — The reverse of the spring. Early dates of arrival : British Columbia, Chillawack, August 26 ; Oregon, Scio, September 21; California, Berkeley, October 9, Monterey, October 29, Ventura November 26 and San Diego, December 11. Late dates of departure : Alaska, Icy Cape, July 30, Cape Nome, August 28, Camden Bay, September 8, St. Michael, September 23, Unalaska, October 1 and Sitka region, October 7 ; Mackenzie, Lake Hardisty, August 25. Casual records. — Has been taken in Quebec City (Dionne) in Wy- oming (Wind River Mountains, August 28, 1893), and in Kurile Islands (February). Egg dates. — Athabasca, Mackenzie region : Nineteen records. May 28 to July 5 ; ten records, June 15 to 21. Alaska : Thirteen records May 30 to July 5 ; seven records, June 16 to 20. 146 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. LARUS CANUS Linnaeus. MEW GULL. HABITS. Contributed by Charles Wendell Townsend. This gull, also called sea-mew or common gull, is a native of north- ern Europe and Asia, and is given a doubtful place in the Check List of the American Ornithologists' Union by the statement that it is " accidental in Labrador ( ?) ". In Birds of Labrador, by Townsend and Allen (1907), the whole matter was carefully investi- gated, and as no new light has been thrown, it seems worth while to quote the results here : The following is from Audubon's Labrador " Journal," under date of June 18, 1833. " John & Co. found an island (near Little Mecattina) with upwards of 200 nests of the Larus canus, all with eggs, but not a young hatched. The nests were placed on the bare rock; formed of seaweed, about 6 inches in diameter within and a foot without; some were much thicker and larger than others; in many instances only a foot apart, in others a greater distance was found. The eggs are much smaller than those of Larus marinus." Elliott Coues adds the following note after Larus canus: "Common gull. — This record raises an interesting question, which can hardly be settled satisfactorily. Larus canus, the common gull of Europe, is given by various authors in Audubon's time, besides himself, as a bird of the Atlantic Coast of North America, from Labrador southward. But it is not known as such to ornith- ologists of the present day." In his Notes on the Ornithology of Labrador (in Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1861, p. 246) Dr. Coues gives L. delawarensis, the ring-billed gull, three speciments of which he procured at Henley Harbor, August 21, 1860. These were birds of the year, and one of them, afterwards sent to England, was identified by Mr. Howard Saunders as L. canus (P. Z. S., 1877, p. 178; Cat. B. Brit. Mus., XXV, 1896, p. 281). This would seem to bear out Audubon's Journal ; but the " common American gull " of his published works is the one he calls L. gonorhynchus (i. e., L. delaicarensis) ; and on page 155 of the Birds of Am., 8vo ed., he gives the very incident here nar- rated in his journal as pertaining to the latter species. The probabilities are that, notwithstanding Dr. Coues's finding of the supposed L. canus in Labra- dor, the whole Audubonian record really belongs to L. delawarensis. The mew gull, although common during the migrations on the English coasts, does not breed south of the Scottish border, according to Saunders (1889), who says that its trivial name, "common gull," has led to many errors. In Scotland, the Hebrides, Orkneys, and Shetland it breeds in abundance, and a few breeding haunts are to be found in Ireland. It also breeds in Norway and Sweden and northern Eussia and Siberia. In winter, according to Saunders (1889), "it occurs on the shores, lakes, and rivers of the rest of Europe down to the Mediterranean ; also on the African side of the latter as far as the Suez Canal." LIFE HISTOBIES OF NOBTH AMEBICAN GULLS AND TEENS. 147 Nesting.-— This gull breeds in colonies on the shores of lakes or of the sea not far above the water. It is especially fond of grassy islands, and often makes its nest among the wrack thrown Up on the shore. It has been found in Norway breeding on the shores of lakes 4,000 feet above the sea. Instances are on record where it has occu- pied the deserted nest of a crow in bushes or trees. The nest is gen- erally rather large, and is made up of seaweed, grass, weed stalks, bits of heather, etc. Eggs — Three eggs constitute a set. They are olive brown to straw color in color, or even pale blue or light green, spotted and streaked with brown and black. The average measurements are 2.25 by 1.50 inches. Young. — The downy young are of a yellowish gray color, lighter on the face, throat, and abdomen. The upper parts and throat are marked with large blackish spots. One of these spots always touches the base of the upper mandible. Behavior. — Saunders (1889) says: As a rule this gull does not go far from land, and owing to its being one of the first to seek the shore on the approach of coarse weather, it has been made the subject of many rhymes and poetical allusions. It feeds on small fish, mollusks, crustaceans, etc., and may frequently be seen picking up grubs on the furrows in company with rooks, while it will sometimes eat grain. Macgillivray (1852) says: The fields having been cleared of their produce and partially plowed, to prepare them for another crop, the " sea mews," deserting the coasts, ap- pear in large flocks, which find subsistence in picking up- the worms and larvae that have been exposed. These flocks may be met with here and there at long intervals in all the agricultural districts, not only in the neighborhood of the sea, but in the parts most remote from it. Although they are most numerous in stormy weather, it is not the tempest alone that induces them to advance inland ; for in the finest days of winter and spring they attend upon the plow, or search the grass fields as assiduously as at any other time. This gull also picks up floating offal from the surface of the water, and catches small fish, such as sand eels and young herring. From the beaches and rocks on the shore it picks Up Crustacea, mollusks echinoderms, etc. In general habits it closely resembles the ring- billed gull. Its flight is light and buoyant and it dips down to the water gracefully, rarely if ever plunging below the surface. Its cry is shrill and somewhat harsh. DISTRIBUTION. Breeding range.— Northern Europe and Asia. East to northeastern Siberia (Gichiga and Marcova, Anadyr District) and Kamchatka South to latitude 53° N. West to the British Isles. North to the Arctic coast of Europe and Asia. 148 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. Winter range. — From the British Isles south to the Canary Islands, the Mediterranean Sea, northern Africa,; the Nile Valley, and the Persian Gulf, and on the Asiatic side to Japan and China. Casual records. — Has been taken once in North America (Henley Harbor, Labrador), a young bird of doubtful identity^ Records from California refer to other species. Egg dates. — Great Britain: Twenty-two records, May 6 to July 18 ; eleven records, May 16 to June 1. LAEUS HEERMANNI Cassin. HEEBMANN'S GULL. HABITS. Among the mixed flocks of large gulls which frequent the beaches of southern California we frequently see a few and sometimes many smaller gulls conspicious by their dark color and long legs. Some seem to be wholly black or dark brown; these are the young birds, which are present more or less all the year round. Others, with con- spicuous white heads, are the adults ; these are absent during the later part of the spring and early summer, while on their breeding grounds farther south. The species is very well marked and entirely unlike any other species of Larus. It has even been placed by some writers in another genus, Blasipus, together with two or three other species found in other parts of the Pacific Ocean, which its general ap- pearance seems to warrant. It is different from other gulls also in its migrations, being the only one of our gulls which migrates south- ward to breed and northward again to spend the fall and winter. Courtship. — Mr. Wilmot W. Brown jr., has given us the only account we have of the courtship of this species. He was fortunate enough to arrive on the Island of Ildefonso, in the Gulf of Cali- fornia, early enough to see it. I quote from his notes, published by Col. John E. Thayer (1911) , as follows : " When, I first arrived (March 2(4) there were an immense number of birds. The males were constantly seen fluttering over the females on the ground, near their nests ; but no eggs were laid until April 2. It seems they spend some time in courtship before settling down to their matrimonial duties. The female when in passion emits a peculiar squeaky sound as she coaxes the male by squatting down and going through the most ludicrous motions. I have also seen a pair holding on to each other's bills, a kind of tug-of-war affair; then they would bade away and go through a suggestion of a dance, but all the time talking to each other in low love tones. The appearance of a duck-hawk would send them all flying to sea. They would return, however, very quickly. On the southeastern end of the island, facing the sea, there is a large semicircu- lar shaped depression, which covers about 5 acres. It is quite level on the bot- tom and covered with gravel, with here and there blocks of lava scattered about. U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 113 PL. 29 I ■^ Ildefonsn Island, Lower California. W. W. Brown. Ildefonso Island, Lower California. W. W. Brown. i Heermann's Gull. For description see page 332. LIFE HISTOBIES OF NOBTH AMEEICAN GULLS AND TEENS. 149 It is well protected from the northwest wind, which prevails here in March and April. At the time I arrived on the island immense numbers of these gulls had congregated. They literally covered the ground. They were so occu- pied in their love making that they paid very little attention to us. Their cries deadened the cries of all the other birds, and they kept it up all through the night. Nesting.— The nest in all cases was simply a well-formed depression in the ground with no lining whatsoever. There must have been over 15,000 Heermann gulls nesting on this island. Mr. Pingree I. Osburn (1909) found a colony of Heermann's gulls breeding " on a remote rock off the coast of the State of Jalisco, Mexico, in about the parallel 18° N." He writes : The rock was about 25 feet high and 50 by 150 feet across, with a plat of coarse bunch grass a foot high in the center, and along the edge a barren strip of white rock, broken up here and there with crevices and bowlders. The rock contained 31 pairs of breeding birds, ascertained after a careful count. The birds in the nesting grounds behaved in much the same manner as the western gulls, but were tamer, swooping down within a foot of my head and alighting nearby while I was photographing in the colony. A cursory survey of the rock showed that it was steep on all sides. ' The birds undoubtedly preferred the level ground for a nesting place, as only one set was found on this cliff. The nests were located usually between bowlders or nestled down in the bunch grass in the center of the rock. Those in the grass were usually well made of sticks, dry grass, and weeds, and sometimes with a slight lining of feathers. They were much better made and more compact than those of the western gull. Several nests in my collection still show their original shape and construction; also retain the strong odor peculiar to these birds on their nesting grounds. A few; sets were found with almost no nest ; simply a cup-shaped cavity scantily lined with shells and a stick or two. The nests were well scattered about over the rock, no close grouping being evident. The measurements of the nests average, in inches — outside width, 10; depth, 2J. No other species of gull was seen in company with the Heermann gulls, and none within hundreds of miles of these islands. The first visit to the rock was on April 11. At this time about one-third of the eggs were heavily incubated. The remainder were in all the lesser stages. The sets contain two and three eggs in about equal numbers, with a possible majority of three. Eggs. — The eggs show the greatest variation in color. . The general ground color is pearl gray with a very slight creamy tinge. In some the ground color is ashy gray and in others light bluish gray. All the eggs are spotted and blotched, the markings showing no particular rule for location at one end or the 'other. They have faint lavender spots, whidh are covered with smaller but more distinct spots of grayish brown, umber, grayish blue, and dark lavender. They are very rarely scratched with fine lines, but occasionally the spots and splashes show a trend to a lengthwise direction. A few examples also have faint wreaths about the large end. Where this occurs the area inside the wreath is usually void of heavy markings and decorated only with faint irregular lavender spots. In extreme examples the eggs range from one egg, which is indistinctly specked with cinnamon brown and marked evenly with faint lavender, to an egg which has a ground color twice as deep as the egg just mentioned, and heavily splotched with dark olive and dark lavender. There is also one set of three which is especially unlike the others, in that the 150 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. eggs are smaller and more elongated, both ends of the egg being almost identi- cal in shape. This set is differently marked also. The spots are dingy and not clearly defined as in the remainder of the series. In all, they are the hand- somest eggs of any species of this genus which I have ever seen. The measurements of 52 eggs, in various collections, average 59.2 by 42.7 millimeters ; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 64 by 45 and 53 by 37.5 millimeters. Plumages. — The downy young is covered with short, thick down, which on the head, throat, breast and flanks is "pinkish buff" or " pale pinkish buff," becoming paler toward the belly, which is pure white. The back is grayish white, mottled with dusky, and there are a few dusky spots on the top of the head. I have seen no specimens illustrating the change into the first plumage. Coues (1903) says of the young of the year : Entire plumage deep sooty or fuliginous-blackish; all the feathers, but especially those of back and upper wing coverts, edged with grayish-white. Primaries and secondaries black, as in adults, with only traces of white tips on the former. Tail black, very narrowly tipped with dull white. Birds that I have seen in what I call the juvenal plumage have the greater and lesser wing-coverts and the feather edgings "olive brown." They apparently change, by a partial and gradual molt, from this into the first winter plumage between June and October, the wing^coverts becoming grayer, the light edgings of the feathers disappearing by wear, and more or less white appearing on the throat and chin. During the first spring the wholly black bill of the young bird becomes dull reddish on the basal half. This plumage is worn until the next summer, the first postnuptial molt, if it may be so called, beginning in June. This complete molt produces the second winter plumage, which is similar to the first winter, except that the primaries and rectrices are blacker and very narrowly edged with pale brown ; the upper tail-coverts are more slaty ; the head and nape are clear slate-black, the mantle is darker slate-black and the bill is practically like the adult. A year later the young bird assumes a third winter plumage, simi j lar to that of the winter adult, except that the dark mottling on the head is more extensive, including the whole head and throat, and all the colors are darker. The white predominates on the throat, but the rest of the head is very dark. The wings and tail of the adult plumage are assumed, but there is great individual variation in the extent of the white tips of the primaries and the rectrices, though the latter are always broadly tipped with white. At the next pre- nuptial molt, which is only partial, including mainly the head and neck, young birds become indistinguishable from adults; they are then nearly 3 years old. LIFE HISTOBIES OF WOBTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TEBNS. 151 The postnuptial molt of adults, which is complete, occurs mainly in July and August, though it is often prolonged into September. Adults in the fall may be distinguished from young birds by being somewhat lighter in color both above and below, with the gray of the body plumage shading off gradually into the white of the head and neck; in young birds this change is much more abrupt. The head and neck are much whiter in old birds, with much less dusky mottling, confined principally to the top and sides of the head. The partial prenuptial molt begins in December, and by January or February the pure white head of the nuptial plumage has been acquired. The white tips of the primaries wear away partially or wholly before spring, and the white tips of the rectrices also dis- appear before the postnuptial molt. Food. — Although the food of Heermann's gull consists largely of fish and other sea food, which it obtains offshore, it also indulges freely in a great variety of other foods and does its part as a scaven- ger along the shores and on the beaches with the other gulls, where it does not seem to be at all fastidious as to its diet. Dr. George Suckley (i860), however, says: This species, unlike the ring-billed and many other gulls, does not seem to be fond of feeding on the shores and bare flats, but is almost always (in that vicinity at least) found on the kelp beds floating in the deep water some distance from shore. Whether they are attracted to these kelp beds by the hopes of finding small shellfish in the upturned and netlike roots of such plants as, detached from their fastenings on the bottom, have become entangled together and with others in situ, or because these floating islands afford a con- venient resting place where they can rest to a great extent secure from their enemies of the land, I can not say ; but presume that the presence of a supply of food must be a great inducement. Mr. A. W. Anthony (1906) describes their method of catching fish as follows: When herring are swimming in compact schools near the surface both Heer- mann's and western gulls secure them by approaching the school from behind and flying near the surface of the water, making repeated, quick dips into the school. The fish seek safety in the depths the instant anything occurs to alarm them, but soon return to the surface, so that the gulls by stalking them from the rear are enabled to approach quite near before the fish are alarmed. As soon as the limits of the school have been passed the gull, rising higher in the air, returns by a wide circuit and again passes over the school from the rear. As the fish all swim in one direction, in a compact mass, these tactics afford the gulls a decided advantage, which seems to be thoroughly understood. I think that the Heermann's gull secures about one out of five fish that are snapped at and the western half as many. Royal tern and the other gulls employ these same methods but to a less extent. They have also been found to feed on shrimps and other crustaceans and mollusca. 174785—21 11 152 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. Behavior. — I have never noticed anything peculiar or distinctive in the flight of this species, which is very much like that of the larger gulls; nor can I find anything of interest in regard to it in print. The species is, of course, easily recognized in life by its very distinc- tive colors in all plumages. Mr. Anthony (1906) refers to its voice as a " whining catlike cry" while attacking the pelicans to rob them of their food. Mr. Osburn (1909) says: Their cry was an oft-repeated "Cow-auk," "cow-eek," given wlien high In the air, and a rapid guttural " caw-ca-ca-ca " when hovering near the nest. Mr. W. L. DaWson (1909) writes that, if disturbed in their sum- mer loafing places, " they suddenly take to wing and fill the air with low-pitched mellow cries of strange quality and sweetness, as they make off to some distant rendezvous." Though not so much of an egg thief as some other gulls, it is some- what of a pilferer of food and quite bold in attacking species larger than itself which are too stupid to resist its persecution. Mr. Anthony (1906) has given us the following interesting account of its method of robbing the pelicans : Heermann's gull is by far the most active and successful in catching small fish from the surface ; but as a rule will seldom attempt to catch his own din- ner if there are any pelicans among the delegates to the convention. There are times when the herring are so thick and so driven from below by the large fish that the pelicans will sit on the surface and snap them up without plunging, as is their normal method, from a height of from 10 to 30 feet in the air. If the fish are swimming the deep plunge often carries the bird com- pletely under the surface, and when a second later he bobs up like, a cork he is sure of finding at least one, often two Heermann's gulls expectantly await- ing the result. If there are two they will usually take up stations on each side and but a foot in front of the pelican, which still holds its huge bill and pouch under the water. It may be that the pelican does not yet know the result of his efforts, for In plunging the pouch is used as a dip net and, if nothing else, it is full of water, which is allowed to escape past the loosely closed mandibles until, perhaps 5 or 10 seconds after the bird made his plunge, a flutter is seen In the pouch, announcing one or more struggling victims. It is still an open question, however, whether they will be eaten by the gull or the pelican, and the latter is seemingly well aware that a herring in the gullet is worth two in the pouch, for it will often wait several seconds for a favor- able opportunity for disposing of the catch; the gulls meantime constantly uttering their nasal whining note and keeping well within reaching distance of the pouch. When the critical moment arrives the pelican throws the bill up and attempts to swallow the fish, but, with cat-like quickness, one or both gulls make a similar effort, and should the fish in its struggles have thrust its tail or head past the edges of the mandibles, as very often happens, it is an even chance that the gull gets the prize ; in fact, I have often seen a Heermann gull reach well into the pouch and get away with a fish in the very act of slipping down the throat of the pelican. I remember a very amusing incident of this nature I once witnessed on the coast of Lower California. The pelican, after securing a herring; "backed LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TERNS. 153 water " until It was supposed to be far enough from Its parasite to venture swallowing it, but as the huge bill was tipped up and opened the gull plunged forward and thrust its entire head and neck into the pouch ; the pelican, some- what quicker than most of its kind, closed down with a snap and caught the intruder, which in turn had caught the fish; neither would yield any advan- tages gained, and for perhaps half a minute the pelican towed the gull about by the head, amid most violent protest from a hundred or more gulls assembled, while other pelicans sat like solemn judges, perhaps offering to arbitrate the question. At last a more violent twist than usual on the part of the gull freed him from limbo, minus a few feathers, but in no manner daunted, for a moment later it was following closely in the wake of the same pelican, waiting for it to plunge for another fish, and I never did learn which really swallowed the one in controversy. Dr. E. W. Nelson (1899) observed that "these gulls are bold and noisy aggressors when they wish to take advantage of the gannets, and about the breeding places of the latter they feed largely at the public expense." One that he shot on Isabel Island, off the west coast of Mexico, had in company with its mate "harried a blue- footed gannet into disgorging a number of small fish upon a rock at the edge of the water, and was picking up the spoils by a series of little downward swoops and hoverings." Mr. Harold H. Bailey (1906) in the same region, noted similar behavior toward the boobies, He also mentions the following incident : One day while sitting on a rock in front of camp at White Rock waiting for lunch, I saw one of a pair of great rufous-bellied kingfishers fishing from a rock about 20 feet farther on. As it returned to its perch from one of its little plunges a Heermann's gull swooped down and tried to get its food before it could be swallowed. The kingfisher dove to the water and at each descent of the gull, dove below, these tactics being kept up until the gull got disgusted and Winter—At the close of the breeding season the Heermann's gulls migrate northward along the coast of California and as far north as /w\ T h6y haV6 b6en seenfl y^S north along the coast of Washington as early as July. Adults become abundant on the California coast m July and young birds in August. They are com mon all winter on the coast of southern California, both adults and young, until the adults migrate south again in the spring to breed. DISTRIBUTION. Breeding range.— Pacific coast of Mexico. Known to h™^ ,\, ^ Gulf of California (Isla Raza and Ildefonsc 7%Z£ Lower Ca^ SSan agdalena ^^ ° D ^ ^ M ™ I^Candt Winter range.— Northward in summer alon