LAUGHING GULL 



small fishes) by plunging for it. The gulls 

 are heavier-bodied birds, with a much stouter 

 bill, and usually a square tail, which average 

 much larger than the terns, though there are 

 also some small species. They feed by alight- 

 ing on the water, and are scavengers to whom 

 almost any food is acceptable. Both the 

 gulls and terns are social in habits and gener- 

 ally breed in colonies on outlying islands to 

 escape predacious animals, most of them 

 nesting on the ground; a few species nest in 

 bushes or trees. Their eggs are large and 

 conspicuously spotted. 



i. Larus atricilla Linnaeus 

 Laughing Gull 



Chroicocephalus atricilla RIDGWAY, Birds of N. and M. 

 Amer., VIII, p. 636, 1919. 



Length 420 mm. (16.50 in.); tail 124 mm. 

 (4.90 in.). 



Sexes alike. Adult summer plumage. Head 

 and upper part of neck very dark sooty gray, 

 ending abruptly ; a small white spot on each eye- 

 lid; back, scapulars, wings and rump moderately 

 dark gray, the shorter quills white toward the 

 ends, the five outer primaries black, at least 

 terminally; rest of plumage including tail, white. 

 Bill dark red; legs and feet dark reddish brown. 



Winter plumage. Similar but head and upper 

 neck white, more or less streaked or washed with 

 grayish. Bill and feet usually brownish or dusky. 



Young. Upper parts light ashy brown, the 

 feathers margined with whitish; the primaries 

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