LAUGHING GULL. 
163 
the farm house, coursing 1 along the river shores, glean- 
ing up the refuse of the fishermen, and the animal 
substances left by the tide; or scattered over the 
marshes and newly ploughed fields, regaling on the 
worms, insects and their larvse, which, in the vernal 
season, the bounty of Nature provides for the sustenance 
of myriads of the feathered race. 
On the Jersey side of the Delaware Bay, in the 
neighbourhood of Fishing Creek, about the middle of 
May, the black-headed gulls assemble in great multi- 
tudes, to feed upon the remains of the king crabs which 
the hogs have left, or upon the spawn which those 
curious animals deposit in the sand, and which is 
scattered along the shore by the waves. At such times, 
if any one approach to disturb them, the gulls will rise 
up in clouds, every individual squalling so loud, that 
the roar may be heard at the distance of two or three 
miles. 
It is an interesting spectacle to behold this species 
when about recommencing their migrations. If the 
weather be calm, they will rise up in the air, spirally, 
chattering all the while to each other in the most 
sprightly manner, their notes at such times resembling 
the singing of a hen, but far louder, changing often 
into a haw , ha ha ha haw ! the last syllable lengthened 
out like the excessive laugh of a negro. When 
mounting and mingling together, like motes in the 
sunbeams, their black heads and wing-tips, and snow 
white plumage, give them a very beautiful appearance. 
After gaining an immense height, they all move off, 
with one consent, in a direct line towards the point of 
their destination. 
This bird breeds in the marshes. The eggs are three 
in number, of a dun clay colour, thinly marked with 
small irregular touches of a pale purple, and pale brown ; 
some are of a deeper dun, with larger marks, and less 
tapering than others ; the egg measures two inches and 
a quarter by one inch and a half. 
The black-heads frequently penetrate into the interior, 
especially as far as Philadelphia ; but they seem to 
