OF VIRGINIA | 3 
FAMILY LARID/E.—GULLS AND TERNS. 
SUBFAMILY LARIN/Az.—GULLS. 
GENus Larus. 
[58]. Larus atricila (Linnwus). Laughing Gull, 
| Black-headed Gull]. 
Ranee.—Tropical and temperate coasts. Breeds from 
Maine (rarely) and Massachusetts (abundantly but lo- 
cally), south on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts to Texas, 
the Lesser Antilles and Venezuela; winters from Georgia 
and the Gulf Coast south to western Mexico, Chile, and 
Brazil; casual in Colorado, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Ontario, 
and Towa. 
This beautiful, graceful little gull is probably our most 
common sea bird. I am glad to say that while many of 
our other species of water birds are rapidly diminishing 
in numbers, the Laughing Gull is not only holding its own, 
but increasing rapidly in numbers. All along our coastal 
islands, where they formerly bred in detached colonies, 
they have now become so common that the colonies really 
become one continuous chain, both on the marshes adjoin- 
ing the islands, and those between the main chain of 
islands and the mainland. Our great Chesapeake Bay 
and its lower tributaries would seem desolate without 
them; as it is, they remain with us until late in Decem- 
ber, by which time numerous species of ducks and the Her- 
ring Gulls partly make up for their absence. 
