blossoms). Mantle grayish-plumbeous. Outer 



6 primaries black, their tips usually white, their ^ ^^^ 



larid.e—larinjE: gulls. 995 



thijaetus, is among tlie largest of Larince); they approximate toward Xerna and Rhodostethia in 

 some respects, but the tail is neither lurked nor cuneate. 



Analysis of Species. 



Tarsus longer than middle toe and claw. 



Bill reddish, feet tlie same. Length IG.OO or more . atricilla 



Tarsus not longer tlian middle toe and claw. 



Bill reddish, feet the same. Length about 14.00 franklini 



Bill black, feet red or yellow. Length about 14.00 . Philadelphia 



Bill lake-red, feet vermilion. Length about 11.00 minutus 



C. atricQ'la. (Lat. atricilla, black-tail : only applicable to the young. Fig. 686.) Laugh- 

 ing Gull. Black-headed Gull. Bill longer than middle toe and claw, shorter than 

 tarsus or head, rather stout for this genus. Gonys concave in front of angle, which is well 

 defined, but tip of bill so decurved that a chord thence to the base does not touch the angle. 

 Middle toe barely | the tarsus. Adult (^ 9 ; in summer : Bill and edges of eyelids carmine or 

 lake-red; feet dusky-red; iris blackish. Hood plumbeous grayish-black, e.\teuding farther 

 on throat than on nape. Eyelids white posteriorly. Neck all round, rump, tail, broad tips of 

 secondaries, and wliole under parts, white, the 

 latter with a rosy tinge (like the tint of peach- 



^^^^ ' (^ 



bases for a very short distance on inner web of 1st, ^^^ ■•^ '^- C,,, 

 and for an increasing distance on botli webs of the 

 others, of the color of the back. Adult in winter : 

 Under parts simply white, not rosy; hood lost, 

 the head being white, mixed with blackish. Bill 

 and feet obscured. Immature: Bill and feet Fio osc. — Bill of Laughing Gull, nat. size. (Ad. 



brownish-black, tinged with red. Plumbeous of 



upper parts more or less mixed with irregular patches of light grayish-brown. Primaries wholly 

 brownish -black, fading at ti[)s. Secondaries brownish-black cm outer webs. Tail-feathers 

 more or less tinged with plumbeous, and with a broad terminal band of brownish-black, the 

 extreme tips white. Upper tail-coverts white. Young-of-the-year : Entire uj)per parts, and 

 neck all round, light brownish-gray; the feathers tipped with grayish or rufous- white, broadly 

 on scapulars and inner secondaries, tlie blue of adults appearing on wing-coverts. Eyelids 

 wliitish ; a dusky space about eye. Forehead, throat, and under parts, dull whitish, more or 

 less clouded with gray, esi)ecially on breast, where tliis is the prevailing color. Wings and tail 

 as before. Nestlings covered with buft' down much variegated with dusky-brown. Length 

 about 10.50; extent 41.00; wing 13.00; tail 5.00; bill 1.75; along gape 2.25; its height at 

 nostril 0.45; tarsus 2.00; middle toe and claw 1.50. Tropical America and warm temperate 

 North America; on the Atlantic north coastwise in summer to Maine and Nova Scotia; in tlie 

 interior to Ohio or beyond; on the Pacific side to Lower California ; Central America, both 

 coasts, and various West India islands; South America to the Lower Amazon and Peru. By 

 thousands ahmg the Atlantic coast of the U. S. during migration, breeding in colonies any- 

 where along as far as Massachusetts, wintering in the South. Nest on the ground, of eel-grass, 

 seaweeds, and other vegetable material; eggs 2-5, usually .'^, 2.10 X L55, ground color some 

 olive .'*hadf, ranging from dull grayish to dark tireenish, thickly markf<l all over with spots 

 and irregular sjda.sln'.s of brown, blackish, dull reddish, and ])ale purplish; sometimes the 

 markings chieJly wreathed about the largo end. The ej)ithet "laughing" wiu? applied to this 

 Gull by Cate.sby in 17."U; but its cachiunations during the breeding sea.son are not more vocif- 

 erous than those of various other species under the same circumstances. 



