LAUGHING GULL. 
81 
The eggs are three in number at the most; their usual 
colour is brownish olive, spotted and blotted with dull reddish 
brown, the said markings being most numerous about the 
larger end. They are considered very good to eat. 
The old birds exhibit much care for their charge. The 
young ones quit the nest soon after being hatched; namely, 
in about six weeks, when the parents leave them to themselves; 
and they keep in separate flocks through the winter. 
Male; length, one foot five to one foot six inches; bill, 
deep lake red; iris, very dark brown—nearly black. Head, 
crown, and neck all round on the upper part, dark bluish 
leaden grey; the remainder of the neck and the nape, white, 
with a pale tinge of red in the living bird. In winter, ‘per 
contra,’ the forehead is white, and there are some white spots 
about the eye, the remainder of the head and upper part of 
the neck, white, with some grey marks. Chin and throat, 
dark leaden grey, in winter white; breast, white, with a tinge 
of pale red, in winter silvery white; back, greyish blue on 
the upper part, on the lower white: in, winter the upper part 
is silvery grey. 
The wings have the first quill feather the longest; they 
reach, when closed, two inches beyond the end of the tail. 
Greater wing coverts, greyish blue, tipped with white in winter; 
lesser wing coverts, greyish blue, in winter dusky brown. The 
primaries are slightly tipped with white; the first is black, 
with a tinge of grey on the inner web at the base, the second 
and third similarly marked, but with the grey more extended, 
the fourth is grey for two thirds of its length, the fifth is 
all grey, except an inch and a half, which is black, and the 
sixth, all but two spots of black; the rest of the primaries 
are greyish blue. In winter the first is brown, the next five 
are also brown, but each with one white spot, the four next 
have the shafts brown, the webs white. Secondaries, largely 
tipped with white; tertiaries, also tipped with white; greater 
and lesser under wing coverts, white. Tail, white, in winter 
the outer feather on each side is white, the others with a 
broad band of brown at the end; upper and under tail coverts, 
white. Legs and toes, deep lake red; webs, deep lake red. 
The female is rather less than the male, and the head is 
of a lighter shade of leaden grey. 
In the young the head, crown, and neck all round, are 
slate grey; chin and throat, slate grey. 
VOL. VIII. 
G 
