THE LAUGHING GULL. 393 



They cannot be said to be resident, as they quit the breeding 

 grounds in winter ; neither are they strictly migrant ; they 

 are " off and on " between the sea and land. The young, 

 and also the eggs, are collected in vast numbers in many 

 places as food. The are tolerable the first year, sufferable 

 the second, and repulsive ever after. 



A figure, in the mature plumage, is given on the plate 

 opposite. Length fifteen inches, breadth more than three 

 feet, weight about half a pound. The young have the bill 

 and naked skin to the eye black, and some black on the ear 

 coverts and nape. The upper plumage mottled with black, 

 and a dusky bar on the tail. Second year, the bill yellowish, 

 the black in the mottling changed to greyish, and all the 

 black on the head gone over the ear spot. The hind toe, at 

 all ages, is a small tubercle without any claw. 



THE LAUGHING GULL (Larus ridibundus). 



This is rather a discursive species, found over a considerable 

 extent in latitude and also occasionally inland, though never 

 at any very great distance from the sea. It is a light and 

 handsome bird, formed for rapid flight, and weighing only 

 between eight and nine ounces, though it measures fourteen 

 and fifteen inches in length. Unlike many of our sea birds, 

 it is more abundant on the English shores than in the north ; 

 and though it ranges to Orkney and Shetland, and even far- 

 ther northward in the breeding season, it finds its way to 

 more southerly places in the winter. Its seasonal migrations 

 thus bear some analogy to those of the marsh birds ; and, 

 though it fishes and has other habits and also characters of 

 the genus to which it belongs, it breeds generally, if not 

 exclusively, in marshy places, and sometimes at considerable 

 distances from the sea. There it mingles freely and in har- 

 mony with the other marsh birds ; and at those seasons finds 



