LAUGHING GULL; BLACK-HEADED GULL 

 58. Larus atricilla (Linn.) 



This beautiful and noisy Black-headed Gull is found 

 all over temperate North America. Its breeding range 

 is practically confined to the coast of the Gulf of Mexico 

 and the South Atlantic Ocean. 



Laughing Gulls congregate in vast numbers during 

 the breeding season. Their nests are built on the ground 

 and are constructed of coarse sea-grass and weeds. The 

 eggs are usually three in number and are of an olive 

 shade mixed with splotches of brown. The bird is about 

 sixteen inches long. The name, Laughing Gull, was given 

 it because of its peculiar and persistent laughter-like call. 



This Gull is marked by a black head, the black ex- 

 tending faither on the chin and throat than on the nape. 

 There is a white spot back of the eye. The general mark- 

 ing is whitish, the mantle grayish. The outer six pri- 

 maries are black with white tips; the bill, eyes and feet 

 are carmine. The Franklin, Bonaparte and Laughing 

 Gull are marked somewhat similarly. 



While I was working on an island in the Laguna 

 de la Madre, in the last weeks in May, the vast throng 

 of these feathered hosts began to arrive. They at once 

 got busy building nests on the ground. A few days 

 later great numbers of Eoyal and Cabot Terns made their 

 appearance. The island was now covered with an ever- 

 moving mass of feathers and the air was full of mingled 

 screams and laughter. 



The Terns pre-empted the sandy, shell-strewn 

 beaches, while the Laughing Gulls preferred the grassy 

 stretches between the many little brackish, sulphurated 

 gas-charged pools. 



I found hundreds of nests scattered all through the 

 grass. In fact, I had to be ever on the alert to keep 

 from stepping on the eggs. Most of the nests contained 

 three brownish ones, but there were no young birds in any 



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