LARUS ATRICILLA, LAUGHING GULL. 651 



■with gray, especially on the breast, -where this is the prevailing color. Wings and tail 

 as in the preceding. 



Dimensions. — Length, 16.50 inches ; wing, 13 ; tail, about 5 ; bill above, 1.7.5 ; along 

 gape, 2.25 ; height at nostril, 0.45 ; tarsns, 2 ; middle toe and claw, 1.50. 



This is the largest species of the group inhabiting North America, and one not easily 

 confounded with any other. The bill is large and stout for a Chrwcocephalus, but the 

 tip is attenuated and much decurvei!, the convexity of the culmen regular and grad- 

 ual. The most striking peculiarity of form lies in the proportions of the tarsus and 

 toes, the former being fully a fourth longer thau the middle toe and claw. The hood is 

 lighter thau that of the other North American species of the genus. The rosy of the 

 under parts is retained in greater or less degree until the autumnal moult is accom- 

 plislied (September to October). 



Bonaparte and Bruch recognize a genus AfriciUa upon the proportions of tarsus and 

 toes, with the A. catesba'i, Bonaparte, as type. In this genus are comprised, according 

 to Bonaparte (Comptes Eeudus, IdoG, xlii, p. 771), three species, viz : the type and com- 

 mon species of Nortb America, and two others — one, Airicilla macrox)tera, Bonaparte 

 (witli strranus and megalopiirus of Bruch as synonyms), which is larger than the type ; 

 and the other, Airicilla minor, Bonaparte '^with micropterus, Bruch, and {I) poliorephalus, 

 Tenim., as synonyms), wliich differs in its smaller size. Whether these two "species" 

 be anything more than races, I am unable to say; but I have seen undoubted speci- 

 mens of Chracocephalus airicilla as much larger and as much smaller than th(! average, 

 as are these supposed species of Bonaparte's and Bruch's. A difference of half an inch 

 or more in the wing of a bird as large as the present, is by no n)eaus an unusual dis- 

 crepancy. Southern birds will, I think, be found usually smallest. 



An. immature Chra:coceplialus, from the Pacific coast of Mexico, differs from the usual 

 type of airicilla in being decidedly smaller, with somewhat unusual proiiortious of the 

 tarsi and toes. The latter are nearly as long as those of au average airicilla, while 

 the tarsus is disiiroportionately shorter. The bird being so young, it is difticult to 

 say what the markings of the adult would have been ; but in these features just 

 detailed there is an approach to frankiini. 



This species was eiToneously referred by Wilson to the ridibundus of Europe. Bona- 

 parte, in taking the specific name for the genus, dedicated the species to Catesby, who 

 had described it under the name of Lams major. According to Bruch, the L. poliocvphalus 

 of Temmiuck appears to be the same bird. The other synonyms I quote refer to larger 

 and smaller races, which, however, I do not think to be constant, nor yet to mark dis- 

 tinct geographical areas, although as a general rule southern birds may be found 

 smaller. 



This species is given by Dr. Hatch among the birds of Minnesota, but 

 the observation may perhaps require coulirmation. It is essentially a 

 southern species, and more particularly one of the Gulf and South At- 

 lantic States, though its summer range extends to New England. On 

 the coast of Nortl^ Carolina, which is therefore an intermediate i)oint, 

 it is, according to my ob.servations, mainly, if not wholly, a migrant. It 

 appears early in x\-i)ril, and remains through the greater i>art of IMay ; 

 in fact I have seen some so late in the spring that I thought they couhl 

 not proceed very far to breed ; but I am not aware that any nest south 

 of the Middle Districts, It returns in September, and thousands sjiend 

 this month and the next on the coast, retiring further south iit the ap- 

 proach of real cold weather, though a few linger in November. It is no 

 exaggeration to say, that a flock I have seen ri.se on wing simultaneously 

 from a sand-bar, where, they had been resting, must have contained a 

 thousand individuals. These were mostly gray young birds. Some old 

 ones, shot in Septeudjer, were then moulting, and still showed traces of 

 tlie rosy on the under plumage. This species is among our more espec- 

 ially maritime ones, and does not often go inland beyond tide water; 

 but there are some notable exceptions to tiiis rule. While at Fort Win- 

 gate, New JMexico, in June, I was shown a specimen captured there, 

 many miles from the nearest watei' ol Con.seipR'nce. This was eviilcntly 

 a stra3' bii'd in that ])articular locality; but its occurrence shows that it 

 must have come \\\) the Itio (Jrande. I tiiink that I also saw it on the 

 Colorado, but cannot be sure, owing to the circumstances of observatitui. 

 None of the naturalists of the I'acilie ltailroa<l surveys mention it as a 

 bird of the Tacitic slope or coast; and until quite recently it was su[>- 



