332 



KEY AND DESCRIPTION 



Length, 24 ; wing, ITJ (15J-17i) ; tail, TJ ; tarsus, 2\ ; culmen, 2J. 

 Nortli America ; breeding from northern New Yorlt, Minnesota and 

 northward, and wintering from Nova Scotia to Cuba. The European 

 Herring Gull .(51. Larus argentatus) is occasionally seen in eastern 

 North America. It is somewhat smaller, and the black spot on the first 

 primary is either broken or entirely absent. 



20. Ring-billed Gull (54. Lhrus delawardnsis). — A large, 

 ■vvhite-headed gull, with pearl-gray mantle, white belly, white 

 tail ; the tips of the six outer primaries white, and back of the 

 tip black for a less and less distance. The bill is greenish- 

 yellow with a dark ring-like band in front of the nostril. The 

 young is very much mottled, with blackish and grayish colors 

 nearly everywhere. 



Length, 19; wing, 14| (13|-15|) ; tail, 6; tarsus, 2| ; culmen. If. 

 North America at large, more common in the interior ; breeding from 

 Minnesota and Newfoundland northward, and wintering from Long 

 Island to Mexico. 



21. Laughing Gull (58. Lhrus atrkilla). — A rather large, 



black-headed gull, 

 with dark pearl - 

 gray mantle, the 

 lower neck, breast, 

 belly, and tail 

 white, and the pri- 

 maries, except the 

 small tips of the 

 inner ones, black. 

 In winter, the head 

 and throat are 

 white, with more or 

 less of grayish tints. 

 Its notes sound 

 "like the odd and 

 excited laughter of an Indian squaw." (Black-headed Gull.) 



Length, 16| ; wing, 13; tail, 5; tarsus, 2; culmen, If. Atlantic and 

 Gulf coasts of the United States ; breeding from Texas to Maine, and 

 wintering from South Carolina to northern South America. 



LangMng GuU 



