Western Bird Guide. Reed Charles Keller
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Название: Western Bird Guide
Автор: Reed Charles Keller
Издательство: Public Domain
Жанр: Зарубежная классика
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LONG-TAILED JAEGER
This is the most swift and graceful of this family in flight. Similar to the last species, but the central pointed tail-feathers extend eight or ten inches beyond the others. It is more often found in the lighter phase.
Nest.– Their eggs are either laid on the bare ground or in a slight depression, scantily lined with grass (2.10 × 1.50).
Range.– Arctic America; south in winter to South America.
GULLS AND TERNS – Family Laridæ
IVORY GULL
The little Snow Gull, as it is often called, in the breeding season is entirely white; the bill is tipped with yellow and there is a red ring about the eye.
Nest.– Of grasses and seaweed, on the cliffs in the Arctic regions. Three grayish buff eggs are laid marked with brown and black (2.30 × 1.70).
Range.– North of the Arctic Circle, and winters south to British Columbia.
PACIFIC KITTIWAKE
These birds breed in immense rookeries on some of the islands in the Bering Sea.
Nest.– On almost inaccessible cliffs, made of sticks, moss and seaweed, making the interior cup-shaped, to hold the two or three eggs, which are buffy brown or grayish, spotted with darker shades of brown (2.20 × 4.70).
Range.– Coast of the North Pacific, wintering as far south as Lower California.
RED-LEGGED KITTIWAKE
This Kittiwake is very much like the former, excepting that the legs are bright red, the mantle is darker and the bill shorter. They usually nest in separate colonies from the former, and can be readily identified when in flight by the red legs.
Nest.– They have been found abundantly on the islands of the Bering Sea, nesting on the higher ledges and cliffs. The color of the eggs is buffy or brownish, blotched and spotted with lilac and shades of brown.
Range.– Northwestern coast and islands of Bering Sea.
GLAUCOUS GULL
This is one of the largest of the Gulls; mantle light gray; it is distinguished by its size and the primaries, which are white to the tips. It is a powerful bird that preys upon the smaller Gulls, eating both the eggs and young.
Nest.– Of seaweed on ledge of sea cliff, eggs three in number, in shades of light drab to brown, spotted with brown and black.
Range.– Arctic regions, in winter south to San Francisco Bay.
GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULL
The primaries are the same color as the mantle on this gull except that the primaries are tipped with white. They breed in large numbers both on the rocky cliffs and on the low sandy islands of the Aleutians. On the cliffs large nests of seaweed are built, while on the low sandy islands no attempt is made at nest building.
Nest.– Two or three eggs are the usual complement, of a greenish brown ground color with various shades of brown spots, most thickly covered on the larger end (2.75 × 2.05).
Range.– North Pacific coast, breeding from British Columbia northwards, and wintering to southern California.
SLATY-BACKED GULL
This large gull, with its almost pure white head and neck and slaty colored back, is one of the prettiest. They often nest in colonies with other gulls, building their small mounds of seaweed on the higher parts of the islands.
Nest.– Usually contains sets of two or three grayish colored eggs, spotted with dark brown and lavender (2.90 × 2.00).
Range.– Northern Pacific and Arctic oceans.
WESTERN GULL
This bird is the most southerly distributed of any of the large Gulls, and can be seen about the harbors of California at all seasons of the year. They are great thieves, robbing the Murres and Terns wherever eggs are left unprotected, and are the greatest enemy that the Murres have to contend with.
Nest.– Their nests are made up of weeds and grass, and the full set contains three eggs of grayish brown spotted with dark brown, showing the usual variation found in color in the Gulls’ eggs (2.75 × 1.90).
Range.– Pacific coast, breeding from southern California to British Columbia.
HERRING GULL
These Gulls nest in colonies in favorable localities, usually on the ground, sometimes making a bulky nest of seaweed quite a distance from the water. A few pair nest on the islands of some of the inland lakes and it is not uncommon to see nests built in low trees ten or fifteen feet from the ground.
Nest.– They lay three eggs of a grayish brown color spotted with black and brown.
RING-BILLED GULL
A small Gull with light gray mantle, black primaries with white tips and always to be identified in the breeding season by the black band around the middle of the greenish yellow bill. They nest in large colonies on the islands in the interior of the country. They frequent lakes and ponds at high altitudes in Colorado. Thousands of them breed about the lakes of the Dakotas and northward.
Nest.– Commonly lay three eggs, placing them in a slight hollow on the ground generally on the grassy portion of some island (2.80 × 1.75).
Range.– North America. On the Pacific coast from Lower California to British Columbia.
CALIFORNIA GULL
This is a slightly smaller Gull than the Cal. Herring Gull and the primaries are grayish instead of black. Bill yellow, with red spot near end of lower mandible; feet greenish yellow.
Nest.– Abundantly around Great Salt Lake, placing their nests generally upon the bare ground. Three or four eggs constitute a set, and they are the usual color of the Gulls’.
SHORT-BILLED GULL
The short-billed Gull or American Mew Gull is much like the European variety. Adults in breeding plumage; СКАЧАТЬ