The Birds of Molly Island, Yellowstone National Park

Abstract

AT THE southern end of Yellowstone Lake, twenty miles from the nearest tourist route and consequently secluded enough to tempt birds who prefer such a home, are two little islands rising only a few feet above the water. The islets are an eighth of a mile apart, each about four hundred feet long by two hundred feet wide, their summits eight to ten feet high. No soil is present, and the expanse of sand and gravel is broken only by a few larger stones and some rather bedraggled and discouraged bushes. From the fierce winds that sweep across the more open parts of the lake, these islets, the northernmost of which is known as Island, are nicely protected in a bay of the Southeast Arm, by the shore, a mile away. California Gulls nest on Klamath Lake, Oregon, in considerable numbers, but are not reported as now breeding commonly east of there, save far to the northward, on Great Slave Lake. Hence I was greatly surprised at the gulls of Molly Island. Such reports as I could find noted the Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis) as present and nesting in the Yellowstone; yet the California Gull (Larus californicus) outnumbers the former species greatly, although there are usually a few of the Ring-billed present. Both gulls and pelicans have been reported from Yellowstone Lake since 1870, but were not stated to be breeding there until 1890, although it is probable that such was the case long before the earlier date. From the best information obtainable, the colony has been holding its own in numbers and should continue to do so. My first visit to Molly Island was in 1898, and during each season since I have returned one or more times to a scene that has never lost its interest. Molly Island is accessible from the Lake Hotel by either motor launch or small