franklin's gull. 49 



Maynard says : " The notes of gulls are loud and staitling, but those 

 of the Laughing Gull are the most singular of them all, for their cries, 

 especially when the bird is excited, sound like peals of prolonged antl 

 derisive laughter." 



LAKUS FRANKLINII Svv. .t Rich. 

 •-'1. Franklin's Gull. (59) 



Adult male: — Eyelids, neck, rump, tail and lower parts white, the latter 

 with the under part of the wings deeply tinged with rich rosy red ; liood, hlack, 

 descending downwards on the nape and tliioat ; mantle and wings, bluish-gray ; 

 a band of black crosses the five outer primaries near the end ; all the cpiill 

 feathers are tipped with white. Youikj: — Changing with age as in other birds 

 of this class. Length, la inches. 



Hab. — Interior of North America, breeding cliiefly north of tlie United 

 .States ; south in winter to South America. 



Nest in a marsh, or wooded swamp, built of sedges and grass a little above 

 the water level. 



Eggs, four, greenish-gray with numerous brown markings, heaviest at the 

 larger end. 



ArVhen questioning that indefatigable sportsman, John Dynes, 

 about the rare birds he had seen on his many excursions round 

 Hamilton, he told me of a gull with a pink breast, which he had 

 sometimes seen in the fall, and finally in October, 1865, he brought 

 me one of the birds thus referred to, which proved to be of this 

 species. Subsequently I shot another in the month of April, about 

 the time the ice was breaking ujj. The latter was in the more 

 advanced stage of plumage, but neither was mature. 



This is not a sea gull in the ordinary use of the term, for it prefers 

 the interior to the coast, breeding in the inland swamps far from the 

 sea, and making its annual journey north and south entirely inland. 

 A short time ago I had a beautiful pair sent to me from JNIinnesota, 

 where they breed. I understand that they also breed abundantly in 

 the marshes of the Red River valley in western Manitoba. 



The species has not been observed in the Atlantic States, its line 

 of route north and south being chiefly west of the Mississippi. The 

 few seen in Ontario can thus be regarded only as stragglers making 

 their migratory journey a little farther to the east than usual. 



