. Bird-lore . ll or,as the earlier ornithologists called it, the Franklins Rosy Gull, so named in honorof the arctic explorer. Sir John Franklin. In Audubons time few white men had penetrated the Great AmericanDesert, or seen this handsome Gull which Dr. Richardson had discoveredin the fur countries. Audubon himself had never met with it alive, and hasno picture of it in his great work, in which he described it from the only twostuffed skins available, brought from the Saskatchewan country, probably bysome explorer or fur-trader. Indeed, little has been known or written about ittill within qui
. Bird-lore . ll or,as the earlier ornithologists called it, the Franklins Rosy Gull, so named in honorof the arctic explorer. Sir John Franklin. In Audubons time few white men had penetrated the Great AmericanDesert, or seen this handsome Gull which Dr. Richardson had discoveredin the fur countries. Audubon himself had never met with it alive, and hasno picture of it in his great work, in which he described it from the only twostuffed skins available, brought from the Saskatchewan country, probably bysome explorer or fur-trader. Indeed, little has been known or written about ittill within quite recent years. Accounts of its habits in the standard works havebeen very meager and unsatisfactory. It is distinctively a bird of the prairies,ranging over both dry land and marshy lakes throughout the region of the greatplains, mostly west of the Mi-ssissippi valley, to the Rocky mountains. Its rangeextends north to the northern parts of the continent, and south in winter toCentral and South America. {124). Order—LoNGiPENNES Family—Laridj: Genus—Larcs Species—Fkaxklixii Franklins Gull 125 Now that these billowy western prairies are teeming with settlers, there arethousands of farmers who know well this beautiful bird. No wonder that itis popular. Its tameness and familiarity are delightful, especially to those wholive remote from neighbors of their own kind. Its al)undance, too, in some places,is picturesque and sj)ectacular. In the cold days of a Dakota spring, I haveseen the air alive with them, as they settled like a snowy blanket upon the darkplowing. Another fact which should mark it as one of our notably valuable speciesis that it is largely insectivorous. When in flocks they follow the plow, they areeagerly eating the grubs and cutworms exposed to view. Or, alighting on theprairie sward, they are busy devouring grasshoppers, locusts, and whateverinsects come in their way. I have often watched them chasing and catchinginsects awing, darting about like swallows
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