108 A MANUAL OF THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
Eggs—Two usually, sometimes three; ground-colour buff-brown blotched 
with dark reddish-brown and grey; axis 54, diameter 37-39. Very variable in 
coloration. 
Breeding-season.—October, November and December. 
Distribution and forms.—Round the coasts of Australia, New Caledonia and 
New Zealand, the South African B. hartlaubi (Bruch) being scarcely specifically 
separable. The Austral forms are separable by means of the white pattern on the 
primaries ir connection with other features, as follows: B.n. novehollandie (Stephens) 
from New South Wales, with a light coral bill and first three primaries with elongate 
“mirrors”’?; B. n. jamesonii (Wilson) from Tasmania (=B. n. gunni Mathews) 
with very large white markings on the primaries, an unmistakable race, probably 
also occurring in Victoria ; B. n. ethele (Mathews) from South Australia, similar to 
the typical race but larger; B. n. longirostris Masters, from South-west Australia, 
is larger with longer bill which is black for a long time and very deep red when 
fully coloured, longer legs, and mirror usually missing on third primary ; B. n. yorki 
Mathews, from North Australia, larger than typical race, with a stouter bill and 
usually no mirror on third primary; B. n. forsteri Mathews, from New Caledonia, 
smaller than the preceding but larger than the next with no mirror on third primary 
and medium on first two; and B. n. scopulinus (Forster) from New Zealand, a 
smaller race with a paler red bill and bold white tips to the primaries which are 
persistent, and no mirror on third primary, but there may be more than one race 
throughout New Zealand and its Sub-antarctic Islands. 
Genus GABIANUS. 
Gabianus Bruch, Journ. fiir Ornith., 1853, heft 2, p. 100, March (ex Bonaparte MS.). Type 
(by monotypy): Larus pacificus Latham. 
Gabianus Bonaparte, Journ. fiir Ornith., 1853, heft 1, p. 47, Jan. Nomen nudum. 
Large Gulls with square tails ; the bill short, very deep and laterally compressed, 
the nostril placed well forward, small and pyriform in shape. 
The bill is strongly hooked, the gonys very pronounced and the bill is scarcely 
twice as long as deep at the base and not twice as long as depth at the gonys ; the 
lateral compression is also very remarkable, while the small pear-shaped nostril 
placed about half the length of the culmen almost suggests a Skua-like cere, the 
nasal groove being merely an impression. 
The wings are very long, but the tail, while square and with broad feathers, 
is two-fifths its length, though at first sight it may appear short. 
The legs and feet are large and powerful, the claws small and little hooked ; 
the tarsus is scutellate in front and reticulate behind, the toes long and fully webbed, 
inner shorter than outer, which is a little less than middle one ; hind-toe small. 
Coloration : white head and under-surface, back and wings black, and tail 
white with a black subterminal bar. 
76. Gabianus pacificus.—PACIFIC GULL. 
Gould, Vol. VII., pl. 19 (pt. xxvu1.), Sept. Ist, 1847. Mathews, Vol. II., pt. 5, pl. 121, Jan. 
3lst, 1913. 
Larus pacificus Latham, Index Ornith. Suppl., p. 68, 1801, after May: New South Wales, 
based on Watling drawing No. 275. 
Larus frontalis Vieillot, Nouv. Dict. d’Hist. Nat., Vol. XXI., p. 505, May 30th, 1818: 
Tasmania. 
Not of Reich., Mag. Thierreichs, Vol. III., p. 129, 1795. 
Larus leucomelas Vieillot, ib., p. 509: Tasmania. 
Larus bathyrinchus Macgillivray, Mem. Wern. Soc., Vol. V., pt. 1, p. 253, 1824 (after March 
2lst): Coasts of New Holland = New South Wales. 
