Descriptive List 31 



dark reddish brighter at the tip. Ads. in winter. — Resemble above, but have the head and throat 

 white, crown and sides of liead and sometimes nape spotted or streaked with grayish. Im. — • 

 Upperparts hght asliy fuscous, the feathers margined with whitish; primaries black; forehead 

 and underparts white, sometimes washed in places with dusk}'; tail dark pcarl-grav, broadly 

 tipped with black. L., 16 .50; W., 12.50; T., 4.90; B., 1.6.5. "(Chap., Birds of E. N. A.) 



Range. — Maine to Brazil along the coast; also casually in Colorado, Nebraska, \\'isconsin. 

 Iowa, and Ontario. 



Rangejn North Carolina. — Coastal region, breeding in Pamlico Sound. 



Fig. 10. LArf.iHiNci Gi"LL. 



In summer plumage this is a strikingly beautiful bird. The solid slaty black of 

 the head, the pure white of the neck, the dark pearl gray of the upperparts and the 

 black primary feathers contrasting sharply against the pure white of the under- 

 parts and tail, combine to produce a bird of noticeably handsome appearance. In 

 the breeding season it is a noisy and graceful addition to the life of the treeless 

 islands on which it nests. 



As a result of protection extended to them by the Audubon Society in recent 

 years, the Laughing Gulls have greatly increased in numbers since 1903, when 

 they were not kno\vn to breed anywhere in this State. About seven hundred 

 young birds are now raised every summer on Royal Shoal Island in Pamlico Sound, 

 where their nests are built among the clusters of grass and weeds growing on the 

 dry parts of the island. 



15. Larus Philadelphia (Ord.). Bonaparte's Gull. 



Ads. in summer. — ^ Whole head and throat dark, sooty slate-color; nape and sides of the neck, 

 underparts, except throat, and tail white; back and wings pearl-gray; first primary, when 

 \-iewed from above, white, outer web and tip black; second and third primaries white, tipped 

 witli black; third to sixth primaries with small whitish tips, then large black spaces, the rest 

 of feather white or pearl-gray; bill l>lack. Ads. in ivinler. — Similar, but head and throat white, 

 back and sides of head washed with grayish. 7m.— Top of the head and nape and a spot on 

 the auriculars more or less washed with gi-ayish; back varying from browniish gray to pearl- 

 grav; lesser wing-coverts grayish brown, secondaries mostly pearl-gray; first primary with outer 

 web, tip, and most of the shaft part of inner web black; inner margin of inner web at end of 

 feather narrowly bordered with lilack; second and third primaries much the same, liut with 

 slightlv more black at ends; tail white, banded with black and naiTowly tipped wUh white; 

 underparts white. L., 14.00; W., 10.30; T., 4.00; B., 1.1.5. (Chap., Birds of E. N. A.) 



Range. — North America; breeds far northward; winters from Maine to Florida, and on the 

 Gulf Coast to Texas and Yucatan; on the Pacific Coast from British Columbia to Mexico. 



Range in North Carolina. — Coastal region in winter; occasionally inland. 



