Catesby, Mark. Vol.I, Tab. 89, The Laughing Gull

Mark Catesby (1638 - 1749)Etching with hand color, paper dimensions: approximately 14 x 19 inchesFrom Volume I, Part 5 of Catesby's Natural History of Carolina, Florida & the Bahama IslandsLondon: 1732 - 1771 Currently known as the laughing gull, Larus atricilla*, Catesby described this subject as follows: LARUS MAJOR. The Laughing Gull. This Bird weighs eight ounces. The Bill is red, hooked towards the point; the lower mandible having an angle towards the end: the Head, of a dusky black: the Eyes are edged above and below with white: half the Quill-feathers of the wing, towards the ends, are dusky black: all the rest of the Body is white, as is the Tail, the feathers of which are of an equal length, and not so long as the wings by two inches: the Legs are black, as are also the Feet, which are webbed. These Birds are numerous in most of the Bahama Islands. The noise they make has some resemblance to laughing, from which they seem to take their name. I know not whether the Hen diff