542 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGt. 



black to different browns and obscure -purples. Their 

 dimensions vary from 2.85 by 2.05 inch to 2.65 by 1.85 

 inch. Large specimens of this species cannot be distin- 

 guished from small ones of the preceding. 



CHEOICOCEPHALUS, Eyton. 



Chroicocephalm, Eyton, Cat. Brit. Birds (1836). 



Bill moderate, rather slender, much compressed ; upper mandible straight at base, 

 more or less curved at the end; nostrils lateral and longitudinal; wings long, nar- 

 row, and pointed ; tail moderate, usually even ; tarsi rather slender ; feet webbed ; 

 hind toe small and elevated. 



These Gulls are of medium or small size: in their spring attire, the head is 

 clothed with a dark-colored hood ; but in the winter it becomes white, with a dusky 

 spot behind the ear. These birds are very handsome, the dark and light colors of 

 their plumage forming a beautiful contrast. 



CHEOICOCEPHALUS ATRICILLA. — Lawrence. 



The Laughing Gull. 



Larm atricitla, Linnaeus. Syst. Nat., L (1766) 225. Bon. Syn. (1828), No. 294. 

 Nutt. Man., IL (1834) 291. Aud. Birds Am., VIL (1844) 136. 

 Larus ridibundus. Wils., IX. (1824) 89. 



Description. 



Adult. — Head and upper part of neck blackish lead-gray, extending lower in 

 front; upper and lower eyelids white posteriorly; lower part of neck, entire under 

 plumage, rump, and tail, pure-white; in spring, a beautiful roseate tint exists on the 

 breast and abdomen; back and wings grayish-lead color; the first six primaries are 

 black, beginning on the first at about two-thirds of its length from the point, and 

 regularly becoming less on the others, until, on the sixth, it is reduced to two spots 

 n^ar the end; tips in some specimens white, and in others black to their points; bill 

 and inside of the mouth dark-carmine ; iris bluish-black ; legs and feet deep-red ; in 

 winter the head becomes white, intermixed on the crown and hind neck with brown- 

 ish-gray. 



Length, seventeen inches ; wing, thirteen ; tail, five ; bill, one and three-fom-ths ; 

 tarsus, two inches. 



Hab. — Texas to Massachusetts. 



This handsome bird is a resident on our coasts through 

 the summer, but is not at all abundant. It nests in the 

 marshes, making only a loose structure of a few pieces of 

 seaweeds or grasses, which it places in a sandy, elevated 

 spot, where the tides do not reach. The eggs are three in 

 number. Their form is usually ovoidal, sometimes ovate. 



