258 
LAUGHING GULL. 
The changes of plumage, to which birds of this genus are 
subject, have tended not a little to confound the naturalist; and a 
considerable collision of opinion, arising from an imperfect ac- 
quaintance Avith the living subjects, has been the result. To in- 
vestigate thoroughly their history, it is obviously necessary that 
the ornithologist should frequently explore their native haunts ; 
and to determine the species of periodical or occasional visiters, 
an accurate comparative examination of many specimens, either 
alive, or recently killed, is indispensable. Less confusion would 
arise among authors, if they would occasionally abandon their ac- 
customed walks — their studies and their museums, and seek correct 
knowledge in the only place where it is to be obtained — in the 
grand Temple of Nature. As it respects, in particular, the tribe 
under review, the zealous inquirer would find himself amply com- 
pensated for all his toil, by observing these neat and clean birds 
coursing along the rivers and coast, enlivening the prospect by 
their airy movements : now skimming closely over the watery ele- 
ment, Avatching the motions of the surges, and noAV rising into the 
higher regions, sporting Avith the Avinds ; while he inhaled the in- 
vigorating breezes of the ocean, *and listened to the soothing mur- 
murs of its billows. 
The Laughing Gull, known in America by the name of the 
Black-headed Gull, is one of the most beautiful and most sociable 
of its genus. They make their appearance on the coast of New- 
jersey in the latter part of April ; and do not fail to give notice of 
their arrival by their familiarity and loquacity. The inhabitants 
treat them Avith the same indifference that they manifest towards 
all those harmless birds which do not minister either to their ap- 
petite or their avarice ; and hence the Black-heads may be seen in 
companies around the farm-house ; coursing along the river shores, 
gleaning up the refuse of the fishermen, and the animal substances 
left by the tide ; or scattered over the marshes and newly ploughed 
