Gulls 



seems to predominate, except here and there, as at Washing- 

 ton, for example, where the ring-billed species is locally very 

 common indeed. From Illinois to the Mexican Gulf is also a 

 favorite winter resort. 



It is not an easy matter to tell one of these two commonest 

 species from the other, unless they are seen together, when the 

 larger size of the herring gull and the black band around the 

 bill of the ring-billed gull are at once apparent. These birds 

 fraternize as readily as they bully and rob their smaller relations 

 or each other when hunger makes them desperate. One rarely 

 sees a gull alone : usually a loose flock soars and floats high in 

 the air, apparently idle, but in reahty keeping their marvelously 

 sharp eyes on the constant lookout for a morsel of food in the 

 waters below. In the nesting grounds countless numbers oc- 

 cupy the same cliffs, and large companies keep well together 

 during the migrations. 



Inasmuch as most of the characteristics of the ring-billed 

 gull belong also to the herring gull, the reader is referred to the 

 longer account of the latter bird to save repetition. When liv- 

 ing inland the ring-billed gull, beside eating everything that its 

 larger kin devour with such rapacity, catches insects both on the 

 ground and on the wing. A trick at which it is past-master is 

 to follow a school of fish up the river, then, when a fish leaps 

 from the water after a passing insect, swoop down like a flash 

 and bear away fish, bug, and all. 



Laughing Gull 



(Larus atricilla) 



Called also: BLACK-HEADED GULL; RISIBLE GULL 



Length — 16 to 1 7 inches. 



Male and Female — In summer: Head covered with a dark slate 

 brown, almost black, hood, extending farther on throat than 

 on nape, which is pure white like the breast, tail, and under 

 parts. Mantle over back and wings dark, pearl gray. 

 Wings have long feathers, black, the inner primaries with 

 small white tips. Bill dark reddish, brighter at the end. 

 Eyelids red on edge. Legs and feet dusky red. Breast some- 

 times suffused with delicate blush pink. In winter : Similar 

 to summer plumage, except that the head has lost its hood, 



42 



