LARID.t: — THE GULLS AND TERNS — LARUS. 



257 



('<;gs are said to be three in iminlM'r, rarely iiuire. On the low islands in South Bay, 

 (■j,'{,'s were found by Giraud which had been dropped on the grass with little or no 

 )ireparations for a nest. He speaks of this bird as being watiihful and timid, like 

 the rest of the Gulls, and yet very courageous in defence of its young. He frequently 

 observed it when fishing, and when making aerial eximrsions in company with the 

 common Tern, Sterna hirutulo. 



Colonel Grayson found this species on the Pacific coast, near Mazatlan, on the 

 west coast of ^lexico. 



Audubon regarded it as a resident all the year round on the Southern coast, from 

 South Carolina to Mexico, and as being more esi)ecially abundant at all times on the 

 sliores and Keys of Florida. None were observed on the Mississippi above New 

 (hleans — at which place, however, it is plentiful during winter. He thinks that 

 none of these Gidls ever travel beyond tide-water in any stream. This is perhaps 

 tiue as a general rule ; and there is, at all events, no positive evidence that this 

 species has ever been actually taken in the interior. On Lake Koskonong in the 

 sunuuer, some twenty-five years ago. Professor Kumlien shot a Gull which he thinks 

 must have been of this species. 



Audul)on foimd it breeding as early as the first of March ; although in ilassachu- 

 sctts it breeds as late as the middle of June. He speaks of its nest as l)eing somewhat 

 elaborately made of dry seaweed and land plants, and as sometimes being three 

 inches high. All the nests which I have seen were slight depressions in the soil, 

 scantily and loosely lined with dry grass. Audubon mentions having once found a 

 nest of nearly double the ordinary size, formed by two pairs, where during the rainy 

 weather the two birds sat close to each other, but each on its own three eggs. The 

 males as well as the females concerned in this singular ))artnership manifested great 

 fondness for each other. The eggs, which were never more than three in inimber, he 

 found to average 2.0C inches in length, and a little more than l.oO in breadth, varying 

 in their general tint, but being usually of a light earthy olive, blotched and spotted 

 with didl reddish brown and black, the markings being more abundant toward the 

 linger end of the egg. These eggs are excellent as an article of food. 



The Laughing Gull is eminently social and sympathetic. It associates and breeds 

 in large companies. If one is wounded and falls into the water its cries of distress 

 are sure to attract its eomi)anions, who soar above it and plunge toward it as if desir- 

 ous of affording aid. Audubon states that off the coast of Florida this Gull watches 

 tlie movements of the Prown Pelican, and when the latter dives flies toward it, 

 alights on its head as it rises from the water, and snatches at such fish as may 

 escape from the Pelican's pouch when the water is allowed to drain off. 



Eggs of this species (Smithsonian Institution, No. L'.'JGO) from Sand Shoal Island, 

 Va., vary from 2.20 to 2.25 inelu's in length, and from 1.55 to l.OO in breadth. 

 Tlicir groimd-color is a brownish olive; but this varies greatly, sometimes becoming 

 a lirownish white. One specimen from the Tortugas, Fla. (Smithsonian Instittition, 

 No. 4794), measures 2.45 by 1.45 inches. Tho Smithsonian Collection also contains 

 eggs from Cape May and from Cuba. 



VOL. II. — 33 



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