395 



LAEUS AUDOUINI. 



(AUDOUIN'S GULL.) 



% Larus quadricolor, Scop. Ann. i. Hist. Nat. p. 81. no. 109 (1769). 



Larus audouini, Payraudeau, Ann. Sc. Nat. viii. p. 462 (1826). 



Larus payraudei, Vieill. Faun. Franc. Ois. p. 396, pi. 172. fig. 1 (1828 1). 



Gavia audouinii (Payr.), Boie, Isis, 1844, p. 191. 



Glaucus audouini (Payr.), Bruch, J. f. O. 1853, p. 102. 



Gavina audouini (Payr.), Bp. Naumannia, 1854, p. 212. 



Laroides audouini (Payr.), Bruch, J. f. Orn. 1855, p. 282. 



Larus (Leucus) audouini (Payr.), Gray, Hand-1. iii. p. 113. no. 10967 (1871). 



Figurce notabiles. 

 Temm. PI. Col. 480 ; Gould, B. of Eur. pi. 438. 



Ad. albus vix auroreo tinctus : stragulo delicate cserulescenti-einereo : primariis duobus extimis nigricantibus, 

 versus apicem albo notatis, reliquis canis, versus apicem nigricantibus et albo apicatis : rostro corallino- 

 rubro, versus apicem nigro fasciato : iride fusca, marginibus palpebrarum rubris : pedibus saturate 

 plumbeis, unguibus nigris. 



Adult Male (Toro, May) . Back and entire mantle pale Frencb-grey or pearl-grey ; first two primaries 

 black, with a large wbite spot at the tip ; remainder Frencb-grey, black towards the tip, and tipped 

 with white, rest of the plumage pure white, the underparts sometimes with a faint rosy tinge ; legs and 

 feet dark lead-grey, claws black ; bill coral-red, with a black band at the tip ; iris hazel, edge of the 

 eyelids coral-red. Total length about 20 inches, culmen 235, wing 15 - 7, tail 6'5, tarsus 2*4. 



Adult Female (Toro, May). "[Indistinguishable in plumage from the male. 



The range of this Gull is, so far as is at present known, extremely limited; for it has only 

 been obtained in the Mediterranean, chiefly about the Italian coasts, and thence across to the 

 coasts of Africa. MM. Jaubert and Barthelemy-Lapommeraye say that it is accidental on the 

 Mediterranean coasts of France ; but they cite no instance of its occurrence. Natterer records it 

 as having been once obtained near Tarifa, in Spain; and Von Homeyer states (J. f. Orn. 1862, 

 p. 431) that he "saw it on three occasions on the coasts of Majorca, in the Balearic Isles and 

 Algiers." According to Salvadori it is of rare occurrence off the coasts of Italy. Two examples 

 were obtained in Liguria ; and it is said to have occurred near Venice. Cara cites an instance of 

 one having been killed near the island of Maddalena, in Northern Sardinia, in 1858; but 

 Mr. A. B. Brooke states that it is certainly very rare there, though it is said to be not 

 uncommon about the Straits of Bonifacio. Professor Doderlein cites three instances of its 

 occurrence in Sicily — two adults, now in the museum, obtained at Palermo, and one near 



