LARUS.] AVES NATATORES . 273 



DIMENS. Entire length seventeen inches : length of the bill (from 

 the forehead) one inch four lines, (from the gape) two inches one line ; of 

 the tarsus one inch ten lines ; of the middle toe, nail included, one inch 

 eight lines ; of the tail four inches eight lines ; from the carpus to the 

 end of the wing twelve inches nine lines : breadth, wings extended, three 

 feet three inches five lines. 



DESCRIPT. (Winter plumage.) Head, neck, and tail, pure white, with 

 the exception of a small black spot at the anterior angle of the eye, and 

 a dusky patch on the ear-coverts : back, scapulars, secondary quills, and 

 greater portion of the wing-coverts, pale bluish ash ; some of the long 

 coverts annexed to the primaries, as well as the spurious winglet, white : 

 primaries themselves white, passing into dusky ash towards the margins 

 of the inner webs, and broadly tipped with black; (according to Tem- 

 minck, in very old birds, the extreme tips of the primaries are white ;) 

 first primary with the outer web black from the base nearly to the tip, 

 the inner edging of dusky ash very narrow ; under surface of the wings 

 dark ash-gray: breast, belly, and abdomen, white, in some individuals 

 faintly tinged with flesh-red : irides deep brown : bill and legs bright 

 vermilion-red. (Summer plumage.) Head, and upper part of the neck, 

 deep brown ; at the posterior angle of the eye a white spot; lower part of 

 the neck, and all the under plumage, fine white, tinged with rose-red : 

 bill and legs deep purplish red: the rest as in winter. (Young of the 

 year.) Head and occiput very pale brown ; a large white spot behind the 

 eyes : under parts, and a collar on the nape, white ; the white on the front 

 of the neck with a faint reddish tinge ; flanks with brown crescent- 

 shaped marks : back, scapulars, and middle coverts, deep brown, the 

 feathers with yellowish edges; upper edge of the wing, rump, and 

 greater part of the tail-feathers, white, these last tipped with dusky 

 brown : primaries white at the base and on the inner webs, black on the 

 outer, and at the tips ; greater coverts bluish ash : bill livid at the base ; 

 the tip black legs yellowish. After the first autumnal moult, the back 

 and wings are bluish ash, with a few brown feathers intermixed, some of 

 those on the wings still with yellowish edges : forehead, and all the under 

 parts, pure white ; head white, spotted with pale ash-colour ; ear-coverts, 

 and a spot at the anterior angle of the eye, brown : tail still with a dark 

 bar at its tip : bill reddish at the base ; the tip brown. In this state they 

 remain till the following spring, when they assume the perfect summer 

 plumage. (Egg.) Yellowish olive-brown, spotted with two shades of 

 darker brown : long. diam. two inches one line and a half; trans, diam. 

 one inch six lines. 



A common species; frequenting inland marshes and the banks of 

 rivers. Resorts to the sea-coast in Winter. Breeds in fens and low 

 swampy meadows, laying three eggs on tufts of grass previously trodden 

 down. Food, insects, worms, and small fish. Obs. The Red-legged Gull 

 (L. cinerarius, Gmel.) is this species in its winter plumage. The Brown- 

 headed Gull (L. erythropus, Gmel.) is the young of the year after the 

 first autumnal moult. 



294. L. Atracilla^ Linn. (Laughing Gull.) Bill and 

 legs deep brownish red : tarsus one inch ten lines : primaries 

 entirely black ; extending considerably beyond the tail : in 

 summer a lead-coloured hood reaching below the occiput. 



L. Atracilla, Temm. Man. d'Orn. torn. n. p. 779. L. ridibundus, 

 Wils. Amer. Orn. vol. ix. pi. 74. f. 4. Laughing Gull, Mont. Orn. 

 Diet. 



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