Some facts about gulls
The gull is a family of aquatic birds closely allied to the tern. There are some fifty species. The gulls are found both on maritime and inland waters. They have webbed feet and rest much of the time on the water. When weary the gull tucks its head under its wing and sleeps, literally in the cradle of the deep, riding the waves like a ship. They feed chiefly on food floating on the surface. The ivory gull, pure white, seventeen inches long, spends much of its time amid the pack ice of Arctic seas. The kittiwake, so called from its cry, is a bird of the same size, with a blue-gray back and black-tipped primaries. In America it breeds from the St. Lawrence and northern Minnesota to the Arctic Ocean. The burgomaster is a large gull, twenty-eight inches long. The American herring gull, pearl gray above and white beneath, with black wing marks, breeds from Maine, Minnesota, and Puget Sound northward, wintering along the Central American, the South Atlantic, and Gulf coasts. Large numbers migrate by way of the Mississippi Valley. Gulls nest in colonies, chiefly on the ground or on rocky shores. Flocks follow ocean-going steamers 1,000 miles from land. The gull is not a suspicious bird, whence the term, "gullible," is not infrequently applied to persons easily taken in by sharpers. The gull is a characteristic feature of the sea shore.
