LAUGHING GULL. 
217 
blood red ; inside of the mouth, vermilion ; bill, nearly two 
inches and a half long ; the nostril is placed rather low ; the 
Our present bird will rank under the genus Xema of Boje, which will con- 
tain those of swallow-like form, apparently both a natural and well-defined group. 
They are not so truly pelagic as many of the other forms — ascend the course of 
rivers in search of food, and breed by the inland lochs or marshes — are ex- 
tremely clamorous and intrepid in defence of their young, but during winter are 
one of the most shy and wary. They undergo an annual change of plumage du- 
ring the breeding season, obtaining the whole or part of the head of a dark and 
decided colour from the rest of the body, generally shades of deep and rich brown, 
or grey ; in winter this entirely disappears, and is succeeded by pure white, ex- 
cept on the auriculars, which retain a trace of the darker shade. They feed on 
fish and insects, and some follow the plough in search of what it may turn up. 
In fishing, they exhibit occasionally the same manner of seizing their prey as 
the terns, hovering above, and striking it under water with the wings closed. 
The species which are noticed by the Prince 'of Musignano, and the authors 
of the Northern Zoology, as inhabiting North America, are, — 
1. L. Sdbinii, {Xema Sabinii, Leach.) — Discovered by Captain Edward Sabine, breeding 
in company with the Arctic tern, on the west coast of Greenland ; they seem confined 
to high latitudes. 
2. Larus minutus, Pall. — Inhabiting the North, but seldom seen in the United States. 
3. Larus capistratus, Temm.— Inhabiting the North, and not very rare during au- 
tumn on the Delaware and Chesapeake, and found as far inland as Trenton. These 
will all rank in Xema, and Swainson and Richardson have described two under the 
titles of L. Franklinii and L. Bonapartii. These gentlemen seem to think that the 
American L. atricilla is confounded with Temminck’s 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. FranJclinii, Swain, and Richard. — 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 j hood, black in summer. 
“ This is a very common gull in the interior of the fur countries, where it frequents 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. iii. p. 216,) corresponds with our specimens, except that the conspicuous white 
end of the first quill is not noticed : the figure (pi. 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 L. atricilla, to which he refers 
Wilson’s bird; though, in his Observations, he states, that the adult specimens have the pri- 
maries, with the exception of the first and second, tipped with white. L. Franklinii can- 
not be referred either to the L. atricilla or i. 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 
* “ Four American specimens of L. atricilla are now before me. It is a larger, and a to- 
tally 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 fea- 
thers worn.” — Sw. 
