652 LAEUS ATRICILLA, LAUGHING GULL. 



posed not to inhabit that side of the continent. The contrary, however, 

 was proveu by Mr. Xautus, as I satisfied myself by examination of spec- 

 imens in his collections irom the California coast. In the general inte- 

 rior of the United States the bird may be said to be still almost 

 unknown. 



A distinguishing feature of birds of the genns Chrcecocephalus is the 

 dark-colored hood that ornaments both sexes at times ; this envelopes 

 the head and descends some distance on the nape or throat ; it is usually 

 relieved by some white spots about the eyes. It is assumed with the 

 vernal moult, worn all summer, and then lost with the autumnal change, 

 the only winter traces being a few dark feathers scattered over the head, 

 or gathered in a patch over the uape and ear-coverts. Another change 

 heightens the beauty of the birds when they are to be decked for their 

 nuptials in full attire; they gain a rich rosy tint over all the white plum- 

 age of the under part; then few birds are of more delicate hues thau 

 these. Nature blushes, tilling the bird's breast with amorous imagery, 

 till the feathers catch a glow and reflect the blush. Burning with in- 

 ward fire, the whole frame thrills with the enthusiasm of sexual vigor. 

 The dark glittering eye is encircled with a fiery ring; now it flashes de- 

 fiance at a rival ; now tenderly melts at sight of his mate, soon to be 

 sacrificed to masculine zeal. The breath of desire seems to influence 

 the mouth till it shares the carmine hue that tinges other parts. The 

 birds speed on high with vigorous i^iuion, making haste to the wedding 

 with joyful cries till the shores resound. But such ardor is too consum- 

 ing to last; with the touch of a moment, the life-current flies like an 

 electric shock, lighting a fire in another organism, only to be subdued in 

 the travail of maternity. Not only once, but often, tiil the tide ebbs 

 that at its flood transfigured the bird. Its force all spent, the change 

 conies ; the red mouth pales again ; the glowing plumage fades to white ; 

 the bird is but the shadow of his former self, dull colored, ragged, with- 

 out ambition beyond the satisfaction of a gluttonous appetite. He loit- 

 ers southward, recruiting an enervated frame with plenteous fare in this 

 season of idleness, till the warm rays of another spring restore him. 



Audubon mentions some interesting facts that show the dependence 

 of the phimage upon the sexual condition. "At the approach of the 

 breeding season, or, as I like to term it, the love season," he says, "this 

 species becomes first hooded, and the white feathers of its breast, and 

 those of the under suriace of its wings, assume a rich blush of roseate 

 tint. If the birds procured at that time are several years old, and per- 

 fect in their powers of reproduction, their primary quills show little or 

 no white at their extremities, and their hood descends about three quar- 

 ters of an inch lower on the throat than on the hind part of the head, 

 provided the bird be a male. But should they be barren birds, the hood 

 will be wanting, that portion of their i)lumage remaining as during win 

 ter; and although the primaries will be black, or nearly so, each one of 

 them will be broadly tipped, or marked at the end, with a white spot, 

 which in some instances will be found to be half an inch in size; yet 

 the tail of these birds, as if to prove that they are adults, is as purely 

 white to its extreme tip as in those that an; breeding; but neither the 

 breast nor the uiuler wing coverts will exhibit the rosy tint of one in the 

 full iKTfection of its powers." Upon the same subject Audubon contin- 

 ues with an observation in which he is alone, so far as I know : " Pre- 

 viously to my vi!?it to that interesting peninsula [Florida] 1 had not 

 unfiequently noticed indications of strong amatory propensities in sev- 

 eral species of Gulls, but never to the extent exhibited by the present 

 species, many of which I saw copulating in the latter part of autumn, 



