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. novcehollandice (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. ethelce (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. fur Ornith., 1853, heft 2, p. 100, March (ex Bonaparte MS.). Type 



(by monotypy) : Larus pacificus Latham. 



Gabianus Bonaparte, Journ. fur 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., pi. 19 (pt. xxvm.), Sept. 1st, 1847. Mathews, Vol. II., pt, 5, pi. 121, Jan. 

 31st, 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. Diet. 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. I., p. 253, 1824 (after March 



21st) : Coasts of New Holland = New South Wales. 



