Cleaves : Bird Photographing on Islands of Virginia 9 



Island Life Saving Station and the Cobb's Island Club house, both 

 located near the southern extremity of the island and both built 

 on posts or piles and raised some feet from the marsh to avoid 

 flood tides. We found that the laughing gulls and clapper rails 

 or marsh hens, Ralliis c. crepitans Gmel., had also resorted to a 

 similar recourse, the gulls' nests being constructed of heaps of , 

 dead reeds placed among the marsh grass and the eggs deposited 

 in a hollow on the top away from the tide level, while a rail's nest 

 was supported mainly by being attached to the stems of the living 

 grasses, the tops of which were arched over it to conceal the 

 clutch of nine eggs. 



The gull colony was small, containing perhaps not more than 

 fifteen nests, but we were told there were many more birds in the 

 marshes near the north end of the island. So long as we stood 

 in plain view the birds remained aloft, uttering their mellow notes 

 of protest and occasionally breaking out into the wild laughing 

 call that has given them their name of " laughing gull." But when 

 we had set up our umbrella blinds and disappeared within them, 

 all of the birds except those owning the nests upon which we were 

 working drew closer to the tops of the marsh grasses and very 

 shortly settled upon their eggs. The individuals selected for pho- 

 tographic purposes were nervous and backward for a consider- 

 able period. Many times they dropped down to within a yard or 

 two of the nests, dangled their legs earthward while the wings 

 were moved rapidly, then wheeled and rose to a height, only to 

 reapproach the nests by short stages, and finally settled lightly and 

 stood daintily beside the eggs, affording an excellent opportunity 

 for a study of their appearance. The laughing gull is decidedly 

 smaller than the herring or harbor gull. Lams argentatus Pont, 

 known so well to all, and is a much more striking bird in color 

 pattern during the breeding season, with black head and a small 

 white ring nearly encircling the eye. 



The laughing gull secures much of its food in the shape of 

 small fish whose habit it is to swim in closely bunched schools at 

 the surface of the water. The bird, sighting a disturbed area on 



