1882. J FROM PERU AND CHILI. 527 



Larus DOMiNiCANus, Liclu. 



Larus dominicanus, Licht. Veiz. Doubl. p. 82 (1823); Scl. Sc 

 Salv. P. Z. S. 1871, p. 5/6 ; Saund. op. cit. 18/8, p. 180. 



Five specimens in various stages of plumage from Coquimbo and 

 Callao. This widely distributed black-backed Gull appears to re- 

 place in the southern hemisphere the northern L. marinus. 



Stercorarius pomatorhinus (Temm.), Saund. P. Z. S. 1876, 

 p. 324. 



cJ 2, Callao Bay, December 1881. 



Two examples of this circumpolar parasitic Gull, apparently in 

 second and third year. These are the first specimens on record 

 from the South Pacific, its previous occurrence in that ocean reaching 

 no further than the latitude of Inosima, Japan (P. Z. S. 1877, 

 p. 800). Callao is also by about three degrees the most southern 

 latitude yet reached. Cape York, North Australia, being the nearest. 

 It is probably a regular visitant to the Peruvian coast, several ob- 

 servers having remarked medium-sized Skuas pursuing the other 

 Gulls, although, until now, the species could not be identified. 

 Unless specimens are actually obtained, it is, however, unsafe to 

 conclude that any species observed pursuing and robbing other sea- 

 birds must necessarily be a Skua of some kind : on the contrary, 

 many other Gulls have similar habits, amongst which may be men- 

 tioned Larus belcheri and Larus heermanni in the Pacific, Larus 

 atricilla (see E. Coues, B. N. W. p. 653), Larus hemprichi in the 

 Red Sea, and, in all probability, many more. 



Stercorarius chilensis (Bonap.), Saund. P. Z. S. 1876, 

 p. 323. 



One, Callao Bay. This locality is the most northern yet recorded 

 for this southern representative and close ally of iS. catarrhactes of 

 the northern hemisphere. 



In a paper recently published by M. Alph. Milne-Edwards (Ann. 

 Sc. Nat. (6) xii. art. 7), " Sur la Faune des regions australes," he 

 inclines to the belief that the type from which the large short-tailed 

 Skuas Stercorarius catarrhactes, S. chilensis, and S. antarcticus are 

 derived belonged originally to the antarctic regions. The first is 

 now confined to the northern hemisphere, in which alone all the other 

 known species of Skua have their breeding-places, and the balance of 

 probability would therefore seem to be rather in favour of a northern 

 origin ; but, after all, this is mere conjecture. With regard to the 

 other Gulls I will quote his exact words : — " Cette etude montre 

 que les Goelands et les Muuettes de la region antarctique ne pre- 

 sentent rien que puisse caracteriser la faune de cette partie du globe, 

 et que les especes ou races qui y vivent sont probablement des de- 

 rives des oiseaux du meme genre qui abondent dans I'hemisphere 

 nord." It would be unsatisfactory to enter into arguments as to the 

 probabiHty of the short-tailed Skuas having had their origin in the 

 southern, whilst all the other Gulls had their origin in the northeru 



