LARID^. • 607 



appears much larger, and the tail shorter in proportion." 

 From this it is clear that, to whatever species it may have 

 belonged, the bird obtained was a very young one in 

 mottled-brown plumage; but it was subsequently assumed 

 by the late Mr. Gould, and by other writers, that this was 

 the identical specimen now in the British collection at the 

 Natural History Museum. This is certainly an error, for 

 although the specimen in the British section is undoubtedly 

 an American Laughing Gull, it is not a young bird of the 

 year, but a nearly adult specimen, with pure white tail, 

 unmottled slate-grey mantle, and black freshly-moulted 

 primaries ; the only remaining sign of immaturity being 

 a few brownish and very old feathers about the head. Nor 

 is there any evidence that the bird shot at Winchelsea ever 

 formed part of the Montagu collection as presented to the 

 British Museum. Leach's Systematic Catalogue (1816), 

 which contains a record of every species and every specimen 

 presented by Montagu or any other donor, makes no mention 

 of any Laughing Gull from Winchelsea, and the three 

 specimens from the Montagu collection which bear that 

 trivial name are correctly recorded as examples of L. 

 ridibundus, from Lincolnshire and Carmarthenshire. It is 

 impossible to say when or how this specimen of the 

 American bird found its way into the British section, 

 but it certainly shows no signs of having been mounted 

 for upwards of a century, and its fresh appearance is in 

 strong contrast to that of many of the genuine specimens 

 of other birds from the Montagu collection. Mr. Gould 

 appears to have been the first to assume that this was 

 Montagu's bird (B. of Eur. pi. 426) ; and the late Mr. G. K 

 Gray (List Brit. Birds, p. 172) went so far as to enter it as 

 " a Winchelsea "; but even he did not venture to state that 

 it had ever belonged to Montagu. Judging from Montagu's 

 own description, it seems almost established that the imma- 

 ture bird shot at Winchelsea was not the American Laughing 

 Gull at all ; and it is quite clear that it cannot be identical 

 with the nearly adult specimen now representing it in our 

 Natural History Museum. Other reported occurrences have 



