DOMINICAN GULL 211 



the mud-banks at the head of the harbour, in the 

 same manner as on the grassy plains near the Parand ; 

 and every evening they took flight direct to seaward. 

 From these facts I suspect that the Rhynchops 

 generally fishes by night, at which time many of the 

 lower animals come most abundantly to the surface, 

 M, Lesson states that he has seen these birds open 

 the shells of the Mactrae, buried in the sand-banks 

 on the coast of Chili ; from their weak bills, with 

 the lower mandible so much produced, their short 

 legs and long wings, it is very improbable that this 

 can be a general habit/' 



DOMINICAN GULL 



Larus dominicanus 



Mantle brownish-black; primaries black, with white tips, and a 

 subapical patch in old birds; rest of plumage white; bill yellow, 

 orange at angle of lower mandible ; legs and feet olive ; length 22, 

 wing 18 inches. 



THE Dominican Gull, which belongs to the same 

 section of the group as the well-known Black-backed 

 Gulls of Europe and closely resembles our Great 

 Black-backed Gull, is common throughout the Plata 

 district in winter, from April to August, During the 

 summer months it confines itself to the Atlantic 

 coast, and breeds in large numbers in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Bahia Blanca, on the extensive sand- 

 banks and mud-flats there; and in other suitable 

 localities further south. Durnford found it nesting at 

 Tombo Point, sixty miles south of the Chupat river. 



