294 



LAUGHING GULL. 



forehead and all the under parts white ; back, scapulars, greater co- 

 verts of the secondary quills, and some of the upper series of the 

 smaller ones near the shoulder grey ; several rows of the middle series 

 of the coverts brown, edged with dull white ; the two first prime 

 quills are white, margined on both webs with black ; in the third, the 

 white increases on the outer margin, and the black at the tip ; and 

 at the fifth feather the white part becomes pale grey, and the dark 

 part increases on the inner web, and becomes more dusky ; secon- 

 dary quills dusky near their ends, margined with grey ; tertials 

 brown ; the feathers of the spurious wing are dusky, slightly tipped 

 with white ; the ridge of the wing below that, and the three or four 

 larger coverts adjoining, are wholly white ; the rest of the greater 

 coverts impending the prime quills more or less brown ; the outer 

 feather of the tail quite white ; the next with two dusky brown spots 

 at the tip ; the rest white, tipped with the same for rather more than 

 half an inch, the ends slightly edged with dirty white ; legs and feet 

 dull orange red. The next change brings it to the Brown-headed Gull 

 (Lath. Syn. vi. p. 383. Larus erythropus, Gmel. Syst. ii. p. 597. 

 Larus ridibundus, Ind. Orn. ii. p. 812.) In this there is no material 

 difference from the last, except that the legs have attained their perfect 

 colour, (red,) and the head assumes more of the dusky, or brown fea- 

 thers, than usual ; while the middle coverts of the wings retain the 

 mottled brown, and the tail the dusky bar at the end. This, though 

 we consider it as an irregular change, may be admitted as an unusual 

 variation in the gradations commonly observed ; for scarcely an instance 

 is to be found, but where the brown scapulars, and middle series of the 

 wing coverts, are changed for those of grey, and the tail becomes 

 wholly white before the head is much covered with dusky feathers, or 

 the legs become more than reddish. 



The fourth change is that which has been generally known by the 

 title of the Red-legged Gull (Lath. Syn. vi. p. 381. Larus cinera- 

 rius, Gmel. Syst. ii. p. 597. Larus ridibundus, Ind. Orn. ii. p. 812, 

 var. B.) In this change, which brings it so near to maturity, we find 

 a very material difference ; for not only the scapulars and coverts of 

 the wings are become grey, but the bar at the end of the tail is lost, 

 and that part assumes a pure white ; the legs and bill also become of a 

 fine purplish red ; these last, however, grow darker as the spring ad- 

 vances, and the black increases on the head, a circumstance peculiar to 

 the breeding season, when that colour spreads over the whole head, 

 taking- in the throat ; and in this, the most perfect or adult state, it is the 

 Laughing Gull {Larus ridibundus.) It should, however, be observed, 



