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Range (Breeds from Texas and Florida)

Breeds from Texas and Florida to Maine; rare in the interior; winters from South Carolina to northern South America. Washington, irregular in fall. Long Island, rare S. R., irregular T. V., Apl. to Sept.

Nest, of grasses, seaweed, etc., on the ground in grassy marshes. Eggs, three to five, varying from grayish olive-brown to greenish gray, spotted, blotched, and scrawled with chocolate, 2.15 x 1.55. "From the hoarse clatter of the Terns one could distinguish its long-drawn, clear note on a high key, sounding not unlike the more excited call-note of the Domestic Goose; and every now and then it would give its prolonged, weird laughter, which has given rise to its common name. To one who has heard it, it might be imitated by the syllables hah-ha-ha-ha-ha, hah-hah-hah, all of which are uttered on a high, clear tone, the last three or four syllables, and especially the last one, being drawn out with peculiar and prolonged effect, the whole sounding like the odd and excited laughter of an Indian squaw, and giving marked propriety to the name of the bird" (Langille). 59. Larus franklini Sw. and Rich.. FRANKLIN'S GULL. Ad. in summer.-Whole head and throat sooty black, nape, sides of the neck, and under parts, except throat, white, generally suffused (in fresh specimens) with an exquisite peach-blossom tint; tail white; back and wings pearl-gray; first primary white, the outer web black, except at the tip, the shaft part of the inner web grayish on the basal half (Fig. 60, d); second primary white, with a black mark on the inner web and a black stripe on the outer web near the tip, the rest of the outer web and shaft part of the inner web pearl-gray; third GULLS. to sixth primaries tipped with white, then banded with gradually diminishing bars of black, which are succeeded by a whitish space, while the rest of the feather is pearl-gray; bill dark coral-red. Ad. in winter.-" Similar, but head and neck white, the occiput, with orbital and auricular regions, grayish dusky; bill and feet dusky, the former tipped with orange reddish." Young, first plumage.-"Top and sides of the head (except forehead and lores), back and scapulars grayish brown, the longer scapulars bordered terminally with pale grayish buff; wing-coverts bluish gray tinged with grayish brown; secondaries dusky, edged with pale grayish blue and broadly tipped with white; primaries dusky, the inner more plumbeous, all broadly tipped with white. Central portion of the rump uniform light bluish gray; lateral and posterior portions of the rump, upper tail-coverts, entire lower parts, forehead, lores, and eyelids white. Bill brownish, dusky terminally; feet brown (in skin)." W., 11-25; B., 1.30; depth through nostrils, 35; Tar., 1.60 (B., B., and R.). Range." Breeds from southern Minnesota and Dakota northward; winters in the Southern States, and migrates principally west of the Mississippi River" (Cooke and Merriam). Not found on the Atlantic coast. Nest, of grasses, etc., in reedy or bush-grown marshes. Eggs, one to three, varying from dark chocolate to creamy brown and sooty white, irregularly marked with small spots or large blotches of umber, and with obsolete lilac shell markings, 2.12 x 1.40 (Preston).

This inland species reaches our western limits. An excellent account of its habits, by J. W. Preston, will be found in the Ornithologist and Oölogist, xi, pp. 54, 55. 60. Larus philadelphia (Ord). BONAPARTE'S GULL. Ad. in summer. -Whole head and throat dark, sooty slate-color; nape and sides of the neck, under parts, except throat, and tail white; back and wings pearl-gray; first primary, seen from above, white, the outer web and tip black (Fig. 60, e); second and third primaries white, tipped with black; third to sixth primaries with small whitish tips, then large black spaces, the rest of the feather white or pearl-gray; bill black. Ad. in winter.-Similar to the preceding, but head and throat white, the back and sides of the head washed with grayish. Im. -Top of the head and nape and a spot on the auriculars more or less washed with grayish; back varying from brownish gray to pearl-gray; lesser wingcoverts grayish brown, secondaries mostly pearl-gray; first primary with the outer web, tip, and most of the shaft part of the inner web black; inner marinner margin of the inner web at the end of the feather narrowly bordered with black; second and third primaries much the same, but with slightly more black at the ends; tail white, banded with black and narrowly tipped with white; under parts white. L., 14.00; W., 10.30; T., 4.00; B., 1·15.