LAUGHING GULL. ion 
red; inside of the mouth, vermilion ; bill, nearly two inches 
and a half long; the nostril is placed rather low ; the eyes are 
been since noticed by writers on arctic and northern zoology, but any 
observations will be confined, for the present, to the form now before us, 
perhaps more familiar in the black-headed gull of Britain, 
The gulls are distributed over the whole world, and present various 
forms. They are mostly, however, of graceful appearance, and perform 
their motions with ease and lightness ; their plumage is often’ of snowy 
whiteness, or tinged with a pale blush, adding to its delicacy. By the 
poets they are employed as emblems of purity, when riding buoyantly 
on the waves, and weaving a sportive dance, or as accessories to the 
horrors of a storm, by their shrieks and wild piercing cries, In their 
manners they are the vultures of the ocean, feed indiscriminately on fish 
or on carrion, and frequently attack birds of inferior power. A dead 
horse, newly cast upon the beach, will present a picture little inferior to 
that drawn by Audubon of the American vultures on the discovery of 
some putrid carcass. 
Our present bird will rank under the genus XYema of Bojé, which will 
contain those of swallow-like form, apparently both a natural and well- 
defined group. They are not so truly pelagic as many of the other forms 
—ascend the course of rivers in search of food, and breed by the inland 
lochs or marshes—are extremely clamorous and intrepid in defence of 
their young, but during winter are one of the most shy and wary. They 
undergo an annual change of plumage during the breeding season, ob- 
taining the whole or part of the head of a dark and decided colour from 
the rest of the body, generally shades of deep and rich brown or grey ; 
in winter this entirely disappears, and is succeeded by pure white, except 
on the auriculars, which retain a trace of the darker shade. They feed 
on fish and insects, and some follow the plough in search of what it may 
turnup. In fishing, they exhibit occasionally the same manner of seizing 
their prey as the terns, hovering above, and striking it under water with 
the wings closed. 
The species which are noticed by the Prince of Musignano and the 
authors of the “Northern Zoology,” as inhabiting North America, are— 
1. L. Sabinii (Xema Sabinzi, Leach).—Discovered by Captain Edward Sabine, 
breeding in company with the arctic tern, on the west coast of Greenland ; 
they seem confined to high latitudes. 
2. Larus minutus, Pall.—Inhabiting the north, but seldom seen in the 
United States. 
3. Larus capistratus, Temm.—Inhabiting the north, and not very rare during 
autumn on the Delaware and Chesapeake, and found as far inland as Trenton. 
These will all rank in Xema, and Swainson and Richardson have described 
two under the titles of Z. Franklinii and L. Bonapartii. These gentlemen 
seem to think that the American ZL. atricilla is confounded with Temminck’s 
