396 IOWA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE Voi.. XXVII, 1920 
sent in from Badger Lake, Monona County, Iowa. Both were 
females. 
3. Laughing Gull. Larus atricilla. On September 29, 1919, 
Mr. A. F. Allen found the carcass of a recently killed gull in 
immature or winter plumage at Lake Goodenough, Union County, 
South Dakota. Considerable difficulty was experienced in identi- 
fying this specimen, and the writer, though now satisfied, is sub- 
ject to correction in the above determination. It is deemed advis- 
able to publish the chief diagnostic characters, since this is the first 
local record of this species. 
The back is pearl gray; the wings, except the primaries, are 
similar, but with more of an ashy tinge. The head is mottled, 
the forehead having more white ; the nape is blackish ; the back of 
the neck between nape and back, is grayish. The throat, under 
neck, and all underparts are pure white — no pinkish being notice- 
able. The tail is white above, with a sub-terminal black band 
of one inch width, and very slightly tipped with white. The 
eye is margined above, below, and behind with white, making 
three-quarters of an eye-ring; the other quarter of the eye-ring 
in front is distinctly black. The first and second primaries are 
wholly black, or blackish, except for a visible white spot at the 
tips scarcely as large as a pin-head. The other primaries (third 
to sixth) are also black with a distinct white tip, the latter in- 
creasing slightly in area to the size of the nail of the little finger. 
The feet were black ; the bill is black now, though Mr. Anderson 
describes it as of '‘dark umber” color when fresh. The sex was 
undetermined. 
In the diagnosis franklini and Philadelphia have been excluded 
because of the color of the primaries; sabini has been excluded 
because the tail is not forked. 
4. Common Tern. Sterna hirundo. On October 5, 1919, 
Mr. Anderson received and mounted a Common Tern which had 
been sent in from Le Mars, Iowa. This is the only authentic 
specimen of this species of which I know for northwestern Iowa. 
The relative abundance of fosteri and hirundo can be determined 
only by taking a larger number of specimens. 
5. Double-crested Cormorant. Phalacrocorax auritus. The 
writer saw a mounted specimen of this species among a small col- 
lection in one of the cottages at Crystal Lake, Dakota county, 
Nebraska. The young man who had mounted it said that it 
had been shot at Crystal Lake in the fall of 1919, the exact 
date not being remembered. 
