442 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I50 



Measurements (from Dwight, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 

 52, 1925, p. 182).— Males, wing 405-460 (433.8), tail 151-190 

 (175.2), culmen 49-62 (57), tarsus 60-74 (67.8) mm. 



Females, wing 397-422 (410.6), tail 154-178 (165.3), culmen 47-53 

 (50.1), tarsus 57-66 (62.1) mm. 



Migrant from the north. Present in small number during the 

 period of northern winter. 



The herring gull recorded at Bocas del Toro, on December 10, 

 1933, by Griscom (Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 78, 1935, p. 308) 

 had been banded as an immature bird in New Hampshire in July of 

 the same year. Hofslund (Bird-Banding, vol. 30, 1959, p. 113) has 

 reported another, banded as an immature bird at Knife Island, Lake 

 Superior, off the mouth of Knife River, Lake County, Minn., June 8, 

 1957, that was "caught on fish hook," in the bay at Bocas del Toro, 

 February 7, 1958. Another banded in Wisconsin in July 1930, was 

 found near Panama City the following December. Eugene Eisen- 

 mann has reported one seen off San Francisco de la Culeta, near 

 Panama Viejo on December 4 and 20, 1962. In 1963, I recorded 

 one on January 30 in the entrance of the Canal at Colon, and another 

 on February 9 near Balboa. The herring gull comes south regularly 

 during the northern winter along both coasts as far as southern 

 Mexico, in small numbers farther south. It is found most often in 

 the Caribbean area. 



LARIJS ATRICILLA Linnaeus: Laughing Gull; Gaviota Reidora 



Figure 70 



Larus Atricilla Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, vol. 1, 1758, p. 136. (Bahama 

 Islands.) 



In flight, adult with outer half of wing wholly black; tail white. 

 Immature, wing like adult; tail with black subterminal band and 

 indistinct light tip; middle toe with claw definitely shorter than 

 culmen. 



Description. — Length 380 to 425 mm. Adult, in summer dress, 

 head black, with a white spot on eyelid ; back, scapulars, and wings 

 dark gray; hindneck, tail, and undersurface white; outer primaries 

 black distally, with small inconspicuous white tips, except on the 

 outermost; innermost primaries and secondaries gray, tipped with 

 white. 



Winter plumage, similar, but head and upper foreneck white, 

 spotted and mottled with brownish gray on the occiput and sides of 

 the head. 



