LAUGHING GULL. J4X 



inclined, he may shoot them down without any difficulty, and the more he 

 kills the more his chances are increased. 



On the 10th of May, 1832, it was my good fortune to be snugly on board 

 the "Lady of the Green Mantle," or, in other words, the fine revenue cutter 

 Marion. The Gulls that laughed whilst our anchors were swiftly descending 

 towards the marvellous productions of the deep, soon had occasion to be 

 sorrowful enough. As they were in great numbers, officers and men, as 

 well as the American woodsman, gazing upon them from the high decks of 

 the gallant bark, had ample opportunities of observing their motions. They 

 were all busily engaged on wing, hovering here and there around the Brown 

 Pelicans, intent on watching their plunges into the water, and all clamorously 

 teasing their best benefactors. As with broadly extended pouch and lower 

 mandible, the Pelican went down headlong, so gracefully followed the gay 

 rosy-breasted Gull, which, on the brown bird's emerging, alighted nimbly 

 on its very head, and with a gentle stoop instantly snatched from the mouth 

 of its purveyor the glittering fry that moment entrapped! 



Is this not quite strange, reader? Aye, truly it is. The sight of these 

 manoeuvres rendered me almost frantic with delight. At times, several 

 Gulls would attempt to alight on the head of the same Pelican, but finding 

 this impossible, they would at once sustain themselves around it, and snatch 

 every morsel that escaped from the pouch of the great bird. So very 

 dexterous were some of the Gulls at this sport, that I have seen them actually 

 catch a little fish as it leaped from the yet partially open bill of the Pelican. 

 And now, reader, I will conclude this long article with some fragments from 

 my journals. 



Tortugas, May 1832. — Whilst here, I often saw the Black-headed Gull of 

 Wilson, sucking the eggs of Sterna fuliginosa, and Sterna stolida. Our 

 sailors assured me that these Gulls also eat the young of these two species of 

 Terns when newly hatched. 



Great Egg Harbour, May 1829. — Like all other Gulls, the Larus 

 Jitricilla disgorges its food when attacked by a Lestris, or when wounded, 

 or suddenly surprised; but on all occasions of respite this Gull is apt to 

 return to it, and vulture-like to swallow it anew. It differs however from 

 the larger species of Gulls, by never, as far as I have observed, picking up 

 bivalve shells, for the purpose of letting them fall to break them, and 

 afterwards feed on their contents. On the ground they walk with con- 

 siderable alertness, and not without a certain degree of elegance, especially 

 during the love season. Whilst floating or swimming on the water, they 

 are graceful in a high degree, and when seen, as they oftentimes are, in 

 groups of many pairs, rising with, or sinking amidst the billows, which ever 

 and anon break on the sandy shores of the coast, their alternate appearance 



