THE LAUGHING GULL. 



Larus atricilla. 



PLATE XXV. 



Xema atricilla, Gould. Black-winged or Laughing Gull cf 

 British authors. 



THIS is even more rare than the Masked Gull as a 

 British visitant, and the specimen in the collection of 

 Col. Montagu still remains the only one that can be 

 claimed to our Fauna, it was obtained in the month 

 of August in the shingly flats near Winchelsea. It 

 has been noticed sparingly in South and South- 

 eastern Europe. This is properly a North Ameri- 

 can specie?, and Mr. Audubon found it breeding 

 on the Tortuga Keys, New Jersey, at Gavelston in 

 Texas, and at Great-egg Harbour, at the latter place 

 on the borders of a salt marsh bordering the sea 

 shore. It constantly evinced a dislike to rocky 

 shores. We possess specimens from Tobago. 



The head, throat, and fore part of the neck, grey- 

 ish black, with a spot above and below each eye 

 white ; the lower part of the neck all round, upper 

 tail-covers, tail, and all the under parts, pure white ; 

 31 an tie and wings dark grey, tips of the greater- 

 rx)vers, secondaries, arid tials, white; three first 



