13* NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



the northern Adirondacks found in the Auk, volume 19, page 299, should 

 probably be referred to the Herring gull. 



Migration. On Long Island Dr Braislin's dates in the fall are Septem- 

 ber 5 to November 12, in spring from March 27 to May 15; Mr Butcher's 

 dates range from August 27 to April 10. At Rochester it arrives from 

 the south in considerable numbers from the 25th of March to the 5th of 

 April, and is commonest about the middle of April, departing for the north 

 about the loth of May. In the fall it seems to be less common, occurring 

 during October and early November. 



With us the habits and food of this species do not differ materially 

 from those of the Herring gull, but in the interior of America it is said to 

 live principally on grasshoppers and other insects which it captures both 

 in the air and on the ground. In the vicinity of Rochester, N. Y., it fre- 

 quents the "wide waters" of the Erie canal before the water is admitted 

 in the spring, to feed on the refvise and dead fish, and sometimes gathers 

 in great numbers oil the fields where garbage is scattered, late in March 

 and early in April. 



Laxus atricilla Linnaeus 

 Laughing Gull 



Plate 6 



Larus atricilla Linnaeus. Syst. Nat. Ed. 10. 1758. 136 



DeKay- Zool. N. Y. 1844. pt 2, p. 310, fig. 289, 290, 296 

 A. O. U. Check List. Ed. 2. 1895. No. 58 



atricil'la, Lat. black-tail; only applicable to the young (Coues) 



Description. Adult in summer: Head and throat slaty black; mantle 

 dark slate color; first six primaries black, usually with white tips, their 

 bases like the mantle for an increasing distance from the first to the inner- 

 most; neck, rump, tail, tips of the secondaries, and under parts white, 

 the breast and belly with a rosy tinge; bill deep carmine red with dusky 

 tip; feet dusky red; iris blackish; eyelids carmine; mouth deep red. In 

 winter: Head white mixed with blackish; bill and feet more dusky; under 

 parts pure white. Immature; The mantle mixed with patches of grayish 

 brown; primaries brownish black, lighter toward the tips; outer webs of 

 secondaries brownish black ; tail plumbeous gray with a broad band of 

 black at the tip ; upper tail coverts and under parts white, sometimes washed 



