LAKUS ATRICILLA, LAUGHING GULL. 651 



vrith gray, especially on the breast, where this is the prevailing color. Wings and tail 

 as in the preceding. 



Dimensions.— hength, 16.50 inches; wing, 13; tail, about 5; bill above, 1.75; along 

 gape, 2.25 ; height at nostril, 0.4.j ; tarsus, -2 ; middle toe and claw, 1.50. 



This is the largest species of the group inhabiting North America, and one not easily 

 confounded with any other. The bill is large and stout for a Chracocephahn,, but the 

 tip is attenuated and much decurvcd, the convexity of the culmen regular and grad- 

 aal. The most striking peculiarity of form lies in the proportions of the tarsus and 

 toes, the former being fully a fourth longer than the middle toe and claw. The hood is 

 lighter than that of the other Xorth American species of the genus. The rosy of the 

 under parts is retained in greater or less degree until the autumnal moult is accom- 

 plished (September to October). 



Bonap;irte and Bnieh recognize a genus Atricilla upon the proportions of tarsus and 

 toes, with the A. catesicei, Bonaparte, as type. In this genus are compri-ed, according 

 to Bonaparte (Comptes Eendus, 1656, xlii, p. 771), three species, viz : the type and com- 

 mon species of Xorth America, and two others — one, AtriciUa macropteia, Boiuiijarte 

 (with sen-anus and megalopterus of Bruch as synonyms), v.-hich is larger thau the type ; 

 and the other, Airioilla minor, Bonaparte i^with mieropterm. Bnich, and {^.) poUoceplialiii . 

 Temm., as synonyms), which differs in its smaller size. Whether these two "species" 

 be anything more than races, I am unable to say; hut I have seen undonbteil speci- 

 mens of Chraeocephalus atricilla as much larger and as much smaller than the a-'erage, 

 as are these supposed species of Bonaparte's and Bruch's. A difference of half an inch 

 or more in the wing of a bird as large as the present, is by no meaos an unusual dis- 

 crepancy. Southern birds will, I think, be found usually smallest. 



An immature Chrcecoceplialus, from the Pacific coast of Mexico, differs from the usual 

 type of atricilla in being decidedly smaller, with somewhat unusual proportions of the 

 tarsi and toes. The latter are nearly as long as those of an average atricilla, while 

 the tarsus is disproportionately shorter. The bird being so young, it is difficult to 

 say what the markings of the adult would have been ; hut in these features just 

 detailed there is an approach to franklini. 



This species was enoncously referred by Wilson to the ridihundus of Europe. Bona- 

 parte, in taking the specific name for the genus, dedicated the species to Catesby. who 

 had described it ander the name of Lams major. According to Bruch, the L. poVionplialus 

 of Temminck appears to be the same bird. The other synonyms I quote refer to larger 

 and smaller races, which, however, I do not think to be constant, nor yet to mark dis- 

 tinct geographical areas, although as a general rule southern birds may be found 

 smaller. 



This species is given by Dr. Hatch among the birds of Minnesota, but 

 the observation may perhaps require conlirmation. It i.s es.seiitiaily a 

 southern species, and more particularly one of tlie Gulf and South At- 

 lantic States, though its summer range extends to Xew England. On 

 the coa.st of iXorth Carolina, ■which is therefore au intermediate point, 

 it is, according to my observations, mainly, if not wholly, a misrant. It 

 appears early in April, and remains through the greater part of May ; 

 in fact I have seen some so late in the spring that I thought they could 

 not proceed very far to breed ; but I am not aware that any nest south 

 of the Middle Districts. It returns in September, and thousands .spend 

 this month and the next on the coast, retiring further south at the ap- 

 proach of real cold weather, though a few linger in November. It is no 

 exaggeration to say, that a flock 1 have seen lise on wing simultaneously 

 from a sand-bar, where they had been resting, must have contained a 

 thousand individuals. These were mostly gray young birds. Some old 

 ones, shot in September, were then moulting, and still showed traces of 

 the rosy on the under plumage. This species is among our more espec- 

 ially maritime ones, and does not often go inland beyond tide-water ; 

 but there are some notable exceptions to this rule. While at Fort Win- 

 gate, Xew Mexico, in June, I was shown a .specimen captured there, 

 many miles from the nearest water of consequence. This was evidently 

 a stray bird in that particular locality; but its occurrence shows that it 

 must have come up the Eio Grande. I think that I also saw it on the 

 Colorado, but cannot be sure, owing to the circumstances of observation, 

 yone of the naturalists of the Pacific Eailroad .surveys mention it as a 

 bird of the Pacific slope or coast ; and until quite recently it was sup: 



