106 A MANUAL OF THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 



(Span-man), but probably more than one race will be admitted, the South Trinidad 

 race having been named Leucanous albus crawfordi (Nicoll.) 



FAMILY LARID.E. 



Gulls are superficially easily separable from the other members of the suborder 

 as above diagnosed. The two genera recorded for Australia deserve investigation 

 as to the internal features, as one of them, Gabianus, has received generic recognition 

 by writers who commonly lumped the most diverse species together. It differs 

 very appreciably from the other Australian species referred to Bruchigavia, and 

 comparison would be valuable. 



Internally, the Gulls differ from the Terns in the leg muscle formula being 

 always AXY-J-, the accessory femoro-caudal being always absent, while the expansor 

 secundariorum is always present. The caeca are rudimentary, the digestive system 

 pericoelous and mesogyrous. The pterylosis is a little different from that of the 

 preceding family and the coloration of the downy young seems to be of one style only. 



Genus BRUCHIGAVIA. 



Bruchigavia Bonaparte, Consp. Gen. Av., Vol. II., p. 228, Oct. 1857. Type (by monotypy) : 

 Larus novcehottandice Stephens. 



Gulls are seabirds with webbed feet and a hooked bill, but the nostrils are 

 not tubular. As before noted they superficially resemble Petrels, but have had a 

 different origin. At the present time no up-to-date classification exists. 



The bill is short and stout, between two and three times as long as it is deep, 

 with the maxilla longer, and the tip bent over the mandible ; the tail is short and 

 and generally square. The nostrils are placed in a suture at some distance from the 

 base of the bill, and are oblong in shape. The tarsus is fairly moderate and the feet 

 are large and fully webbed ; the hind -toe fully developed, though small. First 

 primary longest. The tail is shorter than the wing, and square. 



Bruchigavia is characterised by having the tail less than half the length of the 

 wing, and the bill is short and robust, though of a delicate shape ; the nostrils are 

 proportionately very long and linear. 



Coloration grey above, white below. 



75. Bruchigavia novaehollandiae. SILVER GULL. 



Gould, Vol. VII., pi. 20 (pt. xxxv.), Dec. 1st, 1848. Mathews, Vol. II., pt. 4, pi. 120, Nov. 

 1st, 1912. 



Larus novcehottandice Stephens, in Shaw's Gen. Zool., Vol. XIII., pt. i., p. 196, Feb. 18th, 



1826 : New South Wales, based on Watling drawing No. 277, the source of Latham's Crimson - 



billed Gull. 



Larus jamesonii Wilson, Illustr. Zool., pt. vi.,pl. xxm., 1829: " shores of New Holland " = 



Tasmania. 



Larus erythrorhynchus " Lath." Burton, Cat. Coll. Mamm. Birds Mus. Fort Pitt, Chatham, 



p. 46, (pref. April 1st) 1838, based on Latham's Crimson -billed Gull : New South Wales. 



Gavia gouldii " Bp." Bruch, Journ. fur Ornith., 1853, heft 2, p. 102, March. In synonymy 



of jamesonii Wilson, from Vandiemens Land. 



Gavia andersonii Bruch, ib., p. 102: " Neu-Seeland " = ? New South Wales. 



Gavia pomarre Bruch, ib., p. 103: " Gesellschaft's-Inseln " errore = ? New South Wales. 



Type in Mainz Mus. 



Gelasles corallinus Bonaparte, Naumannia, 1854, p. 216 : New South Wales. 



Gelastes gouldi Bonaparte, t'6. : Torres Straits, Queensland. 



Not of Bruch 1853 as above. 



Bruchigavia longirostris Masters, Proc. Linn. Soc., N.S.W., Vol. II., p. 113, July 1877: 



King George Sound, South-west Australia. 



