BIRDS OF NEW YORK 133 



with dusky white. Juvenal plumage: Upper parts light brownish gray, the 

 feathers tipped with grayish white; a dusky space about the eye; forehead 

 and under parts dull white, clouded with gray, especially on the breast; 

 primaries black; tail dark bluish gray, with broad black subterminal band; 

 bill and feet mostly brownish black. 



Length 15-17 inches; extent 41; wing 12. 5-13; tail 5; bill i. 65-1. 75; 

 gape 2.3 ; depth of bill at nostril .45 ; tarsus 2 ; middle toe and claw 1.5. 



Distinctive marks. The dark mantle and primaries of the Laughing 

 gull will distinguish it from our other Black -headed gulls in the mature 

 plumage. Young birds may be recognized by the wholly brownish black 

 primaries, and the generally darker upper parts than in our other small 

 gulls. 



Distribution. The Laughing, or Black -headed gull is an inhabitant 

 of the tropical and austral regions of America. In this State it is practically 

 confined to the seacoast, where it was a cominon summer resident in Giraud's 

 day but now is rare, nesting only on the salt marshes of Great South bay. 

 It is reported as an accidental summer visitant in the Hudson Highlands 

 by Meams; and near Buffalo bv Bergtold. The northernmost colonies 

 known are on the coast of Maine and Massachusetts. It occurs with 

 us now chiefly as an uncommon transient visitant on Long Island first 

 appearing in April, and passing south in September. Evidently the 

 number of breeding colonies on the Atlantic coast has rapidly decreased 

 during the last 30 years, but the protection by the Audubon Societies will 

 probably save them from extermination. In Mr Butcher's Long Island 

 Notes the last records of its breeding are: South Oyster Bay, May 24, 

 1884; Amityvillc. June 11, 1887, 10 pairs; Cedar Island, May 19, 1888. 



Haunts and habits. This gull inhabits the bays, islands and marshes 

 of the seacoast, making its nest on the ground among the grasses. The eggs 

 are from two to five in number, usually three, varj-ing in color from a dull 

 grayish white to a dark greenish or olive-brown, thickly spotted and splashed 

 with brown, black, reddish and dull lilac, 2.12 by 1.55 inches in size. Dr 

 Coues writes, "its cachinnations in the breeding season are not more vocif- 

 erous than those of other species under similar circumstances." Langille 



