
116 LAUGHING GULL. 
black ; above and below each eye there is a spot of white; the 
head and part of the neck are black; remainder of the neck, 
atricilla, and that they embrace two species. I have added the descriptions 
from Dr Richardson and Mr Swainson’s notes in their own words. I have 
no means at present of deciding this point. 
4. L. Franklinii, Swain. and Richards.—Franklin’s rosy gull, with vermilion 
bill and feet ; mantle, pearl grey; five exterior quills broadly barred with 
black, the first one tipped with white for an inch; tarsus, twenty lines 
long; hood, black in summer. 
“«This is a very common gull in the interior of the Fur Countries, where it fre- 
quents the shores of the larger lakes. It is generally seen in flocks, and is very 
noisy. It breeds in marshy places. Ord’s description of his black-headed gull 
(Wilson, vol. ix. p. 89—present edition, vol. ili. p. 114) corresponds with our 
specimens, except that the conspicuous white end of the first quill is not noticed : 
the figure (pl. 74, fig. 4) differs in the primaries being entirely black.* The 
Prince of Musignano gives the totally black primaries, and a tarsus nearly two 
inches long, as part of the specific character of his Z. atricilla, to which he refers 
Wilson’s bird ; though, in his ‘‘Observations,” he states that the adult specimens 
have the primaries, with the exception of the first and second, tipped with white. © 
L. Franklinii cannot be referred either to the Z. atricilla or L. melanocephalus 
of M. Temminck : the first has a lead-coloured hood, and deep black quill-feathers, 
untipped by white ; and the black hood of the second does not descend lower on 
the throat than on the nape; its quill-feathers are also differently marked, and 
its tarsus is longer. His L. ridibundus and capistratus have brown heads, and 
the interior of the wings grey ; the latter has also a much smaller bill than our 
L. Franklinii.” 
5. L. Bonapartii, Swain. and Richards.—Bonapartian Gull.—Worth. Zool. ii. 
p. 425.—‘‘ With a black bill; the mouth and feet, carmine red; wings, 
bordered with white anteriorly ; posteriorly, together with the back, pearl 
grey ; six exterior quills, black at the end, slightly tipped with white ; the 
first quill entirely black exteriorly ; tarsus, scarcely an inch and a half 
long ; head, greyish black in summer. 
*“This handsome small gull is common in all parts of the Fur Countries, where 
it associates with the terns, and is distinguished by its peculiar shrill and 
plaintive cry. The Z. capistratus of the Prince of Musignano differs, accord- 
ing to his description, in the first quill being white exteriorly, pale ash 
interiorly ; in the light brown colour of its head, and in its tail being slightly 
emarginated ; while the tail of Z. Bonapartii is more inclined to be rounded 
laterally than notched in the middle.” 
6. L. roseus, Macgilliv.—A rare species confined to high latitudes, discovered 
during Sir Edward Parry’s second voyage, when two specimens were ob- 
tained ; the one is now in the Edinburgh Museum, the other was presented 
to Mr Sabine, whose collection has heen lately sold to the Andersonian 
Museum in Glasgow. 
* “Four American specimens.of ZL. atricilla are now before me. Itis a larger 
and a totally different species. The three outer quills are wholly black; the 
fourth tipped for about one inch, and the fifth for half an inch, with black ; the 
extreme white spot at the point of the five first quills is very small in some, and 
not seen in adult specimens, having these feathers worn.”—Sw. 

