own or black. Size 2.90 x 2.00. Data.--Harrowby Bay, N. W. T. Canada,
June 11, 1901. Nest of grass, roots and mud and lined with dry grass; on
point making into the bay. Collector, Capt. H. H. Bodfish.

[Illustration 045: Great Black-Backed Gull. Kumlien's Gull.]
[Illustration: Grayish buff.]
[Illustration: right hand margin.]

Page 44

49. WESTERN GULL. _Larus occidentalis._

Range.--Pacific Coast, breeding from southern California to British
Columbia.

This bird, which is the most southerly distributed of the larger Gulls
is twenty-four inches in length. Mantle slate colored; primaries black,
both these and the secondaries being broadly tipped with white. These
Gulls nest abundantly on the Farallones, the majority of them showing a
preference for the lower portions of the island, although they nest on
the ledges also. Besides man, these Gulls are the greatest enemies that
the Murres have to content against. They are always on the watch and if
a Murre leaves its nest, one of the Gulls is nearly always ready to
pounce upon the egg and carry it away bodily in his bill. The Gulls too
suffer when the eggers come, for their eggs are gathered up with the
Murres for the markets. They make their nests of weeds and grass, and
during May and June lay three eggs showing the usual variations of color
common to the Gulls eggs. Size 2.75 x 1.90.

50. SIBERIAN GULL. _Larus affinis._

This bird does not nest in North America, and has a place on our list,
by its accidental occurrence in Greenland. It is an Old World species
and its nesting habits and eggs are like those of the Herring Gull.

51. HERRING GULL. _Larus argentatus._

Range.--Whole of the Northern Hemisphere, breeding from Maine and
British Columbia northward and wintering south to the Gulf.

This Gull, which formerly was No. 51a, a subspecies of the European
variety, is now regarded as identical with it, and is no longer a
sub-species. It is twenty-four inches in length, has a light gray mantle
and black primaries which are tipped with white. The Herring Gulls nest
in colonies in favorable localities throughout their range, chiefly on
the coasts and islands. A few pairs also nest on islands in some of the
inland bodies of fresh water. Except in places where they are
continually molested, when they will build in trees, they place their
nests on the ground either making no nest on the bare sand, or building
a bulky nest of seaweed in the grass on higher parts