304 A BOOK-LOVER'S HOLIDAYS 



The handsome Utile laughing gull was found 

 everywhere, and often in numerous colonies, 

 although these colonies were not larger than 

 those of the skimmer, and in no way approached 

 the great breeding assemblages of the royal 

 terns on the two or three islands where the 

 latter especially congregated. They were noisy 

 birds, continually uttering a single loud note, 

 but only occasionally the queer laughter which 

 gives them their name. They looked very trim 

 and handsome, both on the wing and when 

 swimming or walking; and their white breasts 

 and dark heads made them very conspicuous 

 on their nests, no matter whether these were 

 on open ground or partially concealed in a bush 

 or reed cluster. Like the skimmers, although 

 perhaps not quite so markedly, their coloration 

 was strongly advertising at all times, including 

 when on their nests. Their relations with their 

 two constant associates and victims, the skim- 

 mer and the royal tern — the three being about 

 the same size — seemed to me very curious. 

 The gull never molested the eggs of either of 

 the other birds if the parents were sitting on 

 them or were close by. But gulls continually 

 broke and devoured eggs, especially terns' 

 eggs, which had been temporarily abandoned. 

 Nor was this all, When a colony of nesting 



