298 LARID^. 



Lariis leucomelas, Vieill. N. Diet. cVHkt. Nat. xxi. p. 509 (1818 : 



adult, Tasmania) ; Temm. Man. d'Orn. ii. p. 760, note (1820) ; 



Vieill. Ehc. Meth. i. p. 346 (1823 : Tasmania). 

 Lams batlij'riuchus (sic), Macyill. Meyn. Went. Soc. v. p. 253 (1824). 

 Larus georgii, King, Surv. Intertrop. Austr. ii. p. 423 (1826 : King 



George's Souud, S.W. Australia). 

 Gabianus pacificus, Bruch, J. f. O. 1853, p. 100 ; id. op. cit. 1855, 



p. 280; Bj). Naum. 1854, p. 211; id. Rev. et Mag. Zool. 1855, 



p. 13 ; id. C. R. xlii. p. 770 (1856) ; id. Vo7isp. Av. ii. p. 212 (1857) ; 



Heine ^ Reichenmv, Noinencl. Mus. Hein. p. 357 (18iJ0). 

 Gabianus bathyrhynchus, Bp. Naum. 1854, p. 211 ; Bruch, J. f. O. 



1865, p. 280"; Bp. Consp. Av. ii. p. 212 (1857). 

 Gabianus georgi, Bp. C. R. xlii. p. 770 (1856) ; id. Consp. Av. ii. 



p. 213 (1857). 



Adult male in breeding-plumage. Head, neck, and under surface 

 white ; mantle and surface of wings deep black ; scapulars slightly 

 tipped with greyish white ; secondaries with broader white tips 

 and dark lead-coloured iipper parts ; primaries black, rather paler 

 on the inner webs, and with white tips from the fifth upwards ; 

 tail-coverts white ; rectrices white basally and at their tips broadly 

 banded with black on all except the outermost pair, which are white 

 in very mature birds, and black on the inner webs in average ex- 

 amples : bill orange, red in front of the angle ; tarsi and toes 

 greenish yellow : " iris white " (Legge). Total length 25 inches, 

 culmen 2-8, depth at the angle 1-3 to 1-4, wing 17"5 to 18, tail 8, 

 tarsus 2-9, middle toe with claw 2-7. 



Adult female. Smaller; bill not so deep and weaker. 



Young. Head and hind neck nearly uniform dark brown ; feathers 

 of the mantle and tail-coverts rather paler brown, with huffish 

 edges ; primaries sooty brown, with pale tips to the inner quills, 

 rectrices dark brown, with whitish extreme tips ; under surface 

 brown, paler on the abdomen ; under wing-coverts dark brown : 

 bill nearly black, ochraceous near the base of the under mandible ; 

 tarsi and toes yellowish brown. At a subsequent stage the forehead 

 and throat are streaked with greyish white and brown, while the 

 general tone of the plumage is lighter. The next year, dull white 

 is the prevailing colour on the underparts ; some black shows on 

 the mantle ; the throat and head are very boldly streaked with 

 brown; some white begins to show at the base of the tail, and the 

 coverts are nearly white : bill greenish basally. 



Immature. Torehead and under surface chiefly white ; head and 

 neck boldly mottled with brown ; mantle nearly black; tail-coverts 

 pure white; rectrices nearly white and only mottled with greyish 

 at their bases, otherwise as in the adult ; under wing-coverts mottled 

 brown and greyish : bill almost as in the adult, but inclined to black 

 at the commissures. 



Nestling. Greyish white, spotted with blackish on the head and 

 mottled with dull brown ou the upper surface. 



This is a very remarkable species, with a superficial resem- 

 blance to L. marinus and L. dominicanus, but showing strong 

 affinities in its wing-pattern and in the black bar on the tail to 



