257 
LAUGHING GULL. 
LJIRUS JlTRICJLLJi. 
[Plate LXXIV.— Fig. 4.] 
Lams atricillay Lin. Syst, ed, 10, tom. 1, />. 136, 5. — Gmel. Syst. l,/>. 600, 8. — Ind. Orn. 
p. 813, 4. — Laughing Gull^ Catesby, 1, PL 89. — Lath. Gen. Syn. 3, p, 383, 12, — 
Arct. Zool. No. 454. — La Mouette rieusCy Briss. 6,j&. 192, 13, />/. 18,^^. 1. — Mouette 
a capuchon plombiy Temm. Man. d'Orn. p. 779. — Peale’s Muscumy No. 3381. 
LENGTH seventeen inches, extent three feet six inches ; bill, 
thighs, legs, feet, sides of the mouth and eyelids, dark blood red ; 
inside of the mouth vermilion ; bill nearly two inches and a half 
long; the nostril is placed rather low ; the eyes are 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, breast, whole lower 
parts, tail-coverts and tail, pure white ; the scapulars, wing-coverts 
and whole upper parts are of a fine blue ash colour; the first five 
primaries are black towards their extremities ; the secondaries are 
tipt largely with white, and almost all the primaries slightly ; the 
bend of the wing is white, and nearly three inches long ; the tail 
is almost even, it consists of twelve featliers, and its coverts reach 
within an inch and a half of its tip; the wings extend two inches 
beyond the tail ; a delicate blush is perceivable on the breast and 
belly. Length of tarsus two inches. 
The head of the female is of a dark dusky slate colour, in 
other respects she resembles the male. 
In some individuals the crown is of a dusky gray ; the upper 
part and sides of the neck of a lead colour ; the bill and legs of a 
dirty, dark, purplish brown. Others have not the white spots 
above and below the eyes ; these are young birds. 
3 T 
VOL. IX. 
