310 NEW-YORK FAUNA — BIRDS. 



bill is not always found. It breeds from Maine to the arctic circle, and ranges to Mexico 

 during the winter. It occurs also along the shores of the Pacific. Allied to the L. canus 

 of Europe, with which it has been frequently confounded. 



( 

 i 



THE LAUGHING GULL. 



Larus atricilla. 



PLATE CXXXU. FIGS. 289, 290 (Maj.kadolt). — PLATE CXXXV. FIG. 29« (First tear). 

 (STATE COLLECTION.) 



Larus atricilla, Lin. p. 225. L. ridibundus, Wilson, Am. Orn. Vol. 9, p. 89, pi. 74, fig. 4. 

 L. id. Ord's reprint, p. 257. Bonaparte, Obs. No. 246; Ann. Lye. N. Y. Vol. 2, p. 359. Ndttall, Man. Orn. 

 Vol. 2, p. 291. Abeobon, B. of Am. Vol 7, p. 136, pi. 443. GlRAUD, B. of Long island, p. 358. 



Characteristics. Adult: Bill robust, and (with the feet) dark red. Mantle slate-bluish 

 ash. A black hood on the head, descending in front. Tarsus 2'0. 

 Young, no hood ; brown varied with rusty ; a black subterminal band. 

 Length, 16-0. 



Description. Bill rather shorter than the head, freely curved from the base, 1*4 to 1*8 

 in length measured along the ridge. Mental angle with concave lines towards the tip and 

 base. Tail nearly even, slightly double, forked, the middle and lateral feathers being longest ; 

 first and second quills subequal, longest. 



Color. Adult in summer : Head, and a part of the neck all round, descending lower in 

 front, bluish black. Eyelids with a narrow white band above and below. Bill and feet deep 

 carmine red. Back and wings bluish grey. Ends of the secondaries and tips of the quills 

 white. First five quills black towards the tips, grey at the base ; the black gradually 

 decreasing in extent. Sixth quill with one or two small black spots near the tip. Lower 

 part of the neck, the tail and all beneath pure white : a rosy tint pervades this white, but is 

 only apparent in recently killed specimens. Winter, and in change: Summit of the head, 

 occiput, nape, space before the eyes, and an obsolete broad band across the breast uniform 

 deep greyish brown. Upper part of the back brown, with narrow greyish crescents formed 

 by the tips of the feathers. Quills and their shafts deep black, faintly tipped with whitish. 

 Feathers of the tail pearl-grey at their base above, white beneath ; the grey on the outer 

 web of the external tail-feather reaching nearly to the tip : a broad black subterminal band, 

 tipped with white on the sides, and rufous in the centre. Length, 15 - 0-17'0. 



The Laughing or Black-headed Gull reaches the shores of this State from the south 

 about the beginning of May, and rarely goes farther north along the coast, although it occurs 

 in the interior and along the great lakes. It breeds from New- York to Florida. The eggs 

 are drab, blotched and spotted with reddish brown, more numerous towards the larger end. 

 Its extreme geographical range may be included between the twenty-sixth and forty-fourth 

 parallels. Peculiar to America. Accidental in Europe. 



