GULLS. 



young, varying from grayish to umber, paler below ; head, 

 irregularly striped and spotted, and other parts mottled with 

 dusky. Cries, when breed- Fig. 54. 



ing, singular, sounding like 

 peals of prolonged, derisive 

 laughter. Nests, placed on 

 the ground. Breeds from 

 the southern coast of Maine -^ff===^ 

 southward through the Ba- 

 hamas. Migrates s o u t h - F, B, d, 1. 1-10. 

 ward in Sep. and Oct., remaining on the coasts of the Caroli- 

 nas until Dec ; winters in Mexico, Central America, and North- 

 ern S. A. ; arrive in the Bahamas in spring, about April 15 ; 

 in Mass. May 1. Common as far north as N. J. but local and 

 rather uncommon north of this; a few still breed at Muske- 

 get Island, Mass., and probably on a few other islands off the 

 shore, and Metinic Green Island, Me. 



2. FRANKLIN'S GULL, C. FRANKLINII. 14.00; a lit- 

 tle smaller than 1, somewhat similar but darker on mantle; 

 primaries, bluish-gray and in all stages of plumage broadly 

 tipped with white; beneath deeply tinted with rose-pink; 

 other stages of plumage corresponding to 1. Breeds from 

 northern Iowa, north through Minn, and the interior of the 

 country; migrates southward in late Sept. through Oct., into 

 early Nov. ; winters in northern S. A. ; goes north in April. 

 Common; known to the farmers of the west as the Prairie 

 Dove, and feeds largely upon the land, often far from water, 

 subsisting principally upon insects. 



3. BONAPARTE'S GULL, C. PHILADELPHIA. Smallest 

 of our Gulls, 13.00; mantle, pale bluish ; outer wing feathers, 

 white ; inner, pale bluish ; outer portion of three outer pri- 

 maries and tips of all the wing feathers, black; bill black, 

 orange at base; feet, bright orange, fig. 55, upper figure. 

 Winter adult ; head, white tinged with gray and with, a dark 

 spot on either side of the back part. Young ; upper wing cov- 

 erts, brownish ; tail, rather narrowly tipped with black, fig. 



