15. LARUS. 



23; 



4th and 5th quills chiefly white to grey, with black bars and inner 

 margins ; the rest mostly grey like the secondaries, with more or less 

 of a spot or bar on the Gth ; under wing-coverts grey : bill crimson- 

 lake ; " iris pure silver-white ; eyelid coral-red" (Ler/ge); tarsi and 

 toes lakc-rcd. Total length about 15 inches, culmen 1-8, wing 11-5 

 to 12, tail 5 to 5-5, tarsus 1-9 to 2, middle toe with claw 1-7. 



In less mature — but undoubtedly breeding — birds the mirrors on 

 the 1st and 2nd quills are smaller, while there is no mirror and 

 little basal white on the ord : but there is every intermediate stage 

 between the extremes mentioned. 



The female appears to be slightly smaller, with a less robust bill ; 

 but there is considerable individual variation in size in both sexes, 

 quite irrespective of locality. 



YouiKj. Similar, but mottled with brown on the mantle and 

 wings ; tail-feathers with a narrow subtorminal band of brown ; the 

 three outer quills brownish black, with a long irregular patch of 

 white on the 4th from the base of the outer web to about the middle 

 of the iimer web ; secondaries with ash-brown centres : bill horn- 

 brown, blackish terminally ; "iris brown" {Coppinrfer) ; tarsi and 

 toes " grey " {Copjnnger), drying brown. 



Immature. Similar, but the mantle nearly unspotted grey ; a 

 large proportion of white on the primaries, beginning at the shafts ; 

 the brown band on the tail confined to the inner rectrices. 



Nestlbig. Mottled brown above, the sprouting feathers with dark 

 centres and broad bufl' edges ; under surface white. 



Hah. Coasts of Australia (except the western side) and Tasmania ; 

 New Caledonia ; perhaps the Fiji group ; ascribed to the Society 

 Islands by French writers [?]. 



a. Ad. sk. 



b. (S imm. sk. 



c. Ad. St. 



d. Pull. sk. 



e,f. 6 2 ad.;. (7. 



Juv. sk. 

 h. $ vix ad. sk. 



i-m. Ad. sk. 

 n. Ad. ; 0. 6 



imm. sk. 

 /), 7. (5 2 ad. sk. 



r. Ad. sk. 



s, t. Vix 

 juv. sk. 



ad. et 



Imm. sk. 

 Ad. sk. 

 . Ad. sk. 

 lunn, St. 



New Caledonia {J. Mac- 



gillivray). 

 Ansevata, New Caledonia, 



Sept. 1877 {E. L. Laijard). 

 Australia. 

 Channel Rock, Torres Strait, 



June {Dr. Coppinger). 

 Thursdaj- 1., Torres Str., Aug. 



Howick I., Torres Str. 



Cape York (Cockerell). 

 Raiue LsL, Torres Str. 



Raine Isl., Torres Str. 



Cape Upstart, Queensland. 



Port Mackay, Queensland 



{Boicen). 

 Richmond River, Queensland. 

 New South Wales. 

 Port Jackson, Queensland. 



H. Saunders Coll. 

 H. Saunders Coll. 



■ Alert ' 



Gould Coll. 

 Voy. H.M.S. 



[P.]. 

 Voy. H.M.S. 'Alert' 



[P.]. 

 J. R. Elsey, E.s(i. 



Salvin-Godman Coll. 

 Gould Coll. 



Voy. II.M.S. ' Chal- 



lengei-.' 

 J. B. Jukes, 



[P-]- 

 II. Saunders Coll. 



E,sq. 



II. Saunders Coll. 

 Australian Mus. [E.]. 

 Australian Mus. IE.!. 



