160 GULLS 



The resemblance of its call to wild, maniacal laughter has won 

 for this species its common name. 



1895. MACKAY, G. H., Auk, X, 332-336 (habits in Mass.). 



59. Lams franklini Rich. FRANKLIN'S GULL. Ads. in summer. 

 Whole head and throat sooty black, nape, sides of neck, and underparts, 

 except throat, white, generally suffused (in fresh specimens) with an exquis- 

 ite peach-blossom tint; tail white; back and wings pearl-gray; first primary 

 white, outer web black, except at the tip, shaft part of the inner web grayish 

 on basal half (Fig. 78, d) ; second primary white, with a black mark on inner 

 web and a black stripe on outer web near the tip, rest of outer web and shaft 

 part of inner web pearl-gray; third to sixth primaries tipped with white, 

 then banded with gradually diminishing bars of black, which are succeeded 

 by a whitish space, while the rest of the feather is pearl-gray; bill dark 

 coral-red. Ads. in winter. "Similar, but head and neck white, the occiput, 

 with orbital and auricular regions, grayish dusky; bill and feet dusky, the 

 former tipped with orange reddish." Young, first plumage. "Top and 

 sides of the head (except forehead and lores), back and scapulars grayish 

 brown, the longer scapulars bordered terminally with pale grayish buff; 

 wing-coverts bluish gray tinged with grayish brown; secondaries dusky, 

 edged with pale grayish blue and broadly tipped with white; primaries 

 dusky, the inner more plumbeous, all broadly tipped with white. Central 

 portion of the rump uniform light bluish gray; lateral and posterior portions 

 of the rump, upper tail-coverts, entire lower parts, forehead, lores, and 

 eyelids white. Bill brownish, dusky terminally; feet brown (in skin)." W., 

 11'25; B., 1'30; depth through nostrils, '35; Tar., 1'60 (B., B., and R.). 



Range. Interior N. Am. Breeds from sw. Sask. and sw. Keewatin to 

 S. D., Iowa, and s. Minn.; winters from Gulf coast of La. and Tex. to 

 Peru and Chile. ; accidental in Utah, Ont., Ohio, Va., and the Lesser Antilles. 



Nest, of grasses, etc., in reedy marshes. Eggs, 2-3, varying from dark 

 chocolate to creamy brown and sooty white, irregularly marked with small 

 spots or large blotches of umber, and with obsolete lilac shell markings, 

 2'12 x 1'40 (Preston). Date, Heron Lake, Minn., May 8. 



Many Gulls nest in the interior, but of them all Franklin's has 

 rarely been found on either our Atlantic or Pacific coasts, though it 

 reaches the seashore in its winter quarters. 



Pausing in its billowy flight over the prairies to circle about one 

 curiously; hovering over the plowman, or exploring the furrow in his 

 wake; eagerly chasing grasshoppers, like a flock of pearl-plumaged 

 hens; gathered in thousands in the reeds where it nests or in vast 

 flocks prior to its fall migration, Franklin's Gull is one of the most 

 interesting, as it is unexpected, forms of bird-life of our interior. 



1886. PRESTON, J. W., Orn. and Ool., XI, 54, 55. 1900. ROBERTS, 

 T. S., Auk, XVII, 272-283 (one of the first as well as one of the best of 

 American bird studies with a camera). 1902. JOB, H. K., Among the 

 Water-Fowl, 159-165. 1910. Ed. Leaflet, No. 44, Natl. Assoc. Aud. Soc., 

 Bird-Lore, XII, 124-127. 



60. Lams Philadelphia (Ord). BONAPARTE'S GULL. Ads. in summer. 

 Whole head and throat dark, sooty slate-color; nape and sides of the neck, 

 underparts, except throat, and tail white; back and wings pearl-gray; first 

 primary, seen from above, white, outer web and tip black (Fig. 78, e)\ 

 second and third primaries white, tipped with black; third to sixth primaries 

 with small whitish tips, then large black spaces, the rest of feather white 

 or pearl-gray; bill black. Ads. in winter. Similar, but head and throat white, 

 back and sides of head washed with grayish. Im. Top of the head and 



