162 LARUS ATRICILLA. 



In some individuals, the crown is of a dusky gray; 

 the upper part and sides of the neck, of a lead colour; 

 the bill and legs, of a dirty, dark, purplish brown. 

 Others have not the white spots above and below the 

 eyes ; these are young birds. 



The changes of plumage, to which birds of this ^i mi~ 

 are subject, have tended not a little to confound the 

 naturalist; and a considerable collision of opinion, 

 arising from an imperfect acquaintance with the living 

 subjects, has been the result. To investigate thoroughly 

 their history, it is obviously necessary that the orni- 

 thologist should frequently explore their native haunts ; 

 and, to determine the species of periodical or occasional 

 visitors, an accurate comparative examination of many 

 specimens, either alive or recently killed, is indispen- 

 sable. Less confusion would arise among authors, if 

 they would occasionally abandon their accustomed 

 walks their studies and their museums, and seek 

 correct knowledge in the only place where it is to be 

 obtained in the grand temple of nature. As it respects, 

 in particular, the tribe under review, the zealous in- 

 quirer would find himself amply compensated for all 

 his toil, by observing these neat and clean birds coursing 

 along the rivers and coast, enlivening the prospect by 

 their airy movements, now skimming closely over the 

 watery element, watching the motions of the sur 

 and now rising into the higher regions sporting with 

 the winds, while he inhaled the invigorating breezes 

 of the ocean, and listened to the soothing murmurs of 

 its billows. 



The laughing gull, known in America by the name 

 of the black-headed gull, is one of the most beautiful 

 and most sociable of its genus. They make their 

 appearance on the coast of New Jersey in the latter 

 part of April ; and do not fail to give notice of their 

 arrival by their familiarity and loquacity. The inha- 

 bitants treat them with the same indifference that they 

 manifest towards all those harmless birds which do not 

 minister either to their appetite or their avarice ; and 

 hence the black-heads may be seen in companies around 



