LARID.E — THE GULLS AND TERNS — LARUS. 257 



eggs are said to be three in number, rarely more. On the low islands in South Bay, 

 eggs were found by Giraud which had been dropped on the grass with little or no 

 preparations for a nest. He speaks of this bird as being watchful and timid, like 

 the rest of the Gulls, and yet very courageous in defence of its young. He frequently 

 observed it when fishing, and when making aerial excursions in company with the 

 common Tern, Sterna hirundo. 



Colonel Grayson found this species on the Pacific coast, near Mazatlan, on the 

 west coast of Mexico. 



Audubon regarded it as a resident all the year round on the Southern coast, from 

 South Carolina to Mexico, and as being more especially abundant at all times on the 

 shores and Keys of Florida. None were observed on the Mississippi above New 

 Orleans — at which place, however, it is plentiful during winter. He thinks that 

 none of these Gulls ever travel beyond tide-water in any stream. This is perhaps 

 true as a general rule ; and there is, at all events, no positive evidence that this 

 species has ever been actually taken in the interior. On Lake Koskonong in the 

 summer, some twenty-five years ago, Professor Kumlien shot a Gull which he thinks 

 must have been of this species. 



Audubon found it breeding as early as the first of March ; although in Massachu- 

 setts it breeds as late as the middle of June. He speaks of its nest as being somewhat 

 elaborately made of dry seaweed and land plants, and as sometimes being three 

 inches high. All the nests which I have seen were slight depressions in the soil, 

 scantily and loosely lined with dry grass. Audubon mentions having once found a 

 nest of nearly double the ordinary size, formed by two pairs, where during the rainy 

 weather the two birds sat close to each other, but each on its own three eggs. The 

 males as well as the females concerned in this singular partnership manifested great 

 fondness for each other. The eggs, which were never more than three in number, he 

 found to average 2.06 inches in length, and a little more than 1.50 in breadth, varying 

 in their general tint, but being usually of a light earthy olive, blotched and spotted 

 with dull reddish brown and black, the markings being more abundant toward the 

 larger end of the egg. These eggs are excellent as an article of food. 



The Laughing Gull is eminently social and sympathetic. It associates and breeds 

 in large companies. If one is wounded and falls into the water its cries of distress 

 are sure to attract its companions, who soar above it and plunge toward it as if desir- 

 ous of affording aid. Audubon states that off the coast of Florida this Gull watches 

 the movements of the Brown Pelican, and when the latter dives flies toward it, 

 alights on its head as it rises from the water, and snatches at such fish as may 

 escape from the Pelican's pouch when the water is allowed to drain off. 



Eggs of this species (Smithsonian Institution, No. 2369) from Sand Shoal Island, 

 Va., vary from 2.20 to 2.25 inches in length, and from 1.55 to 1.60 in breadth. 

 Their ground-color is a brownish olive ; but this varies greatly, sometimes becoming 

 a brownish white. One specimen from the Tortugas, Fla. (Smithsonian Institution, 

 No. 4794), measures 2.45 by 1.45 inches. The Smithsonian Collection also contains 

 eggs from Cape May and from Cuba. 



33 



