Observations in a Laughing Gull Colony 205 



Five days later, when we had an opportunity to visit the colony again, 

 we were pleasantly surprised to find that the nests had suffered no apparent 

 harm from the storm and tide. The first one to which I came was at the very 

 edge of the lagoon, whose rippled waters, together with the long, glittering 

 shell-heap on the beach beyond, would make, I thought, a very pleasing setting 

 for a portrait of the Laughing Gull at home. Accordingly, I set up my umbrella 

 tent at a distance of about twenty-five feet from the nest, and prepared to 

 await the bird's return with some measure of the patient fortitude that the 

 bird photographer, by reason of long practice, almost inevitably acquires. 

 These periods of waiting, however, seldom prove really irksome; at such times 

 alone, perhaps, during an active day in the field, is one enabled to give a 

 neglected note-book the attention it demands. Furthermore, when one is 



.,fV»*W-*>' 



THE UMBRELLA BLIND IN THE LAUGHING GULL COLONY 



provided with a comfortable seat in the shape of a drift-gathered box and 

 may watch, unseen, numbers of unfamiHar and interesting birds about him, — 

 for I was favored at this time in both respects, — hour after hour may pass 

 pleasantly enough. 



During the first few^ minutes, the birds of the entire colony kept circling 

 back and forth overhead, concerned, no doubt, for the safety of their nests, 

 but not showing so much excitability as a pair or two of Forster's Terns that 

 came from a distance to scream hoarsely at the new feature in the landscape. 

 Only now and then did the Laughing Gulls utter their high-keyed notes; and 

 these varied to a marked degree at different times or with various individuals. 

 The following are some of the variations that I attempted to jot down in my 

 note-book: ka-ah; ke-hah; ha; ha-ha; ha-ha-ha; ke-a-hah. Several times, 

 too, their strange laughter, not unlike the ordinary call-note, but much pro- 

 longed, sounded over the marsh. 



