North American Birds Eggs. 



35 



5 8. Laughing Gull, f.ariis (itricilla 

 Range. — Eastern North America, 



chieHv on the coast. 



breeding from the (iulf to Nova i^cotia, 

 A beautiful Gull, Ki inches long, with a dark slate colored 

 head, gray mantle, black primaries, 

 ■*■ ^ anil white neck, underparts and tail. 



"*^ Bill and feet red. This bird has its 



name from its peculiar laughing cry 

 when alarmed or angrv; it is also 

 called the Black-headeil (tuH. They 

 nest by thousands on the islands off 

 the Gulf Goast and along the South 

 Atlantic States. The nest is placed on 

 the ground and is made of seaweed. 

 Three, four anil sometimes five eggs 

 are laid, of a grayish to greenish brown 

 color, marked with brown and lilac. 

 Size 2.25 X 1.60. Data.— Timbalin Is., 

 La., June 3, 189(i. Three eggs. Nest 

 of drift grass thrown in a pile about 



Go Hector, 



[Pale grayish brown. 

 8 inches high, slightly hollowed on top, in low marsh back of beach 

 E. A. Mcllhennv. 



[(irayish brown. J 



59. Franklin Gull. Larus franklin i. 

 Range, — Interior North America, 



breeding from middle I'nited 

 States northward. 



Like the last but smaller and 

 with the primaries light. I'nder- 

 parts rosy in breeding season. 

 Nests very abundantly in the 

 marshe.? of Minnesota and north- 

 ward. Nest made of grasses and 

 placed in the marsh grass barely 

 above the surface of the water. 

 Eggs same color as the last but the 

 markings more inclined to zigzag 

 lines. "Size 2.10 x 1.40. Data.— 

 Heron Lake, Minn., May 26, 1885. 

 Nest of wet sedge stalks and rub- 

 bish placed in a bunch of standing sedge in shallow water; at least five thous- 

 and birils in rookery. Gollector, J. \V. Preston. 



60. Bonaparte Gull. Larus Philadelphia. 



Range.— Breeds in the northern parts of 



North America; winters from Maine and 

 British Golumbia to the southern border 

 of the United States. 



Smaller than the last; 14 inches long. 

 Plumage similar, but bill slender and 

 black. They nest in great numbers on 

 the marshes of Manitoba and to the 

 northward. The nests of sticks and grass 

 are placed on the higher parts of the 

 marsh and the usual complement of 

 three eggs is laid during the latter part of 

 June. The eggs are grayish to greenish 

 brown, marked with dark brown and 

 lilac. Size 1.90 x l.iJO. 





im^ 



)r 



Pale grayish brown.] 



