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LAUGHING GULL. 
BLACK-WINGED GULL. HOODED GULL. 
Larus atridlla, 
Xema atricilla, 
Pennant. Montagu. Fleming. 
Jenyns. Tkmminck. 
Gould. 
Larus —A ravenous sea-bird. 
Atricilla. Atei — Black. Cilia —.? 
This species lias occurred in Europe in Russia, Spain, Italy, 
Sicily, and the Islands of the Grecian Archipelago, and the 
Mediterranean generally. In Africa, about the Straits of 
Gibraltar. In America, at the Tortugas, Tobago, Texas, and 
New Jersey. 
Catesby, the author of the well-known ‘Natural History of 
Carolina,’ gave the present species its name, and Colonel 
Montagu made known its occurrence as an English bird. He 
first noticed five, two old, and three young ones, near Win- 
chilsea, in Kent, in the month of August, 1774: one of them 
was shot. He also saw two others near Hastings, in Sussex. 
These birds feed on small fish, insects, and Crustacea. 
The present species builds in marshy places near the sea¬ 
shore. Meyer asserts that during fine weather this bird sits 
on the eggs only at night, leaving the breeding-place early in 
the morning for the purpose of feeding, but that, when the 
weather is wet or cold, she remains on the eggs, and takes 
care of them also during the day. 
The nest is made of dry grass and sea-weeds, arranged to 
a height of two or three inches, the interior being from four 
and a half to five inches wide, and one and a half deep. 
Audubon mentions a curious instance of two nests being 
built as it were into one; each pair of birds, both male and 
female, living in the closest companionship, in both senses of 
the word. In some cases the sand alone is hollowed into 
a nest. Many pairs build near together. 
