165 



" Just above the water, on the bare shore, without any attempt at nest-building, the Lake Gull 

 lays one or two eggs, in close proximity to hundreds more ; we can scarcely walk through this 

 nursery without causing damage by breakage or by treading on some newly-hatched dark-eyed 

 youngster, clad in grey. The eggs are remarkably beautiful, far handsomer and bolder in 

 their markings than those of any other species of New Zealand G-ull. In shape they differ much, 

 for some are very broad at the top, with the smaller end quite obtusely rounded ; others ovoid, 

 oval, or so narrowed towards the smaller end that they might be termed almost pyriform. In the 

 ' Birds of New Zealand ' the author gives a good description of the eggs of this bird, from 

 my collection in the Canterbury Museum. These eggs came from a nursery on the Upper 

 Rangitata River. I see from my note-book they were obtained on December 14th. Looking at a 

 series of the eggs, the ground colour usually is pale olive-brown or greenish-grey, with very 

 rich splashes and large blotches of marks and dark browns." 



Obder LAEIFOEMES.] 



[Family hABIDM. 



LARUS NOVjE-HOLLANDIjE. 



(AUSTEALIAN GULL.) 



Larus novae-hollandiae, Stephens, Cont. of Shaw's Gen. Zool., vol. xiii., p. 196. 



Theee can be no question as to the right of this species to a place on our list, for I have in my 

 collection a specimen, shot on the New Zealand coast, which accords exactly with the description 

 given by Mr. Howard Saunders. The bill, which is appreciably larger than in L. scopulinus, is of 

 the same arterial-red colour. 



It is said to inhabit all the coasts of Australia, except on the western side ; also Tasmania, 

 New Caledonia, and probably the Fiji group. Mr. Gould, who called it Bruchigavia jamesoni, 

 stated that he also found it frequenting rivers and inland lakes of any considerable extent, and 

 sometimes breeding on the marshes in colonies of many hundreds. He refers to its light and 

 buoyant flight, and adds : " It runs over the surface of the ground with lightness and great 

 facility, and is altogether one of the most beautiful and fairy-like birds I have ever met with." 



There are specimens in the Liverpool Museum from Norfolk Island. 



Bonaparte dedicated the Torres-Strait Gull to Mr. Gould; but it is not separable, as a 

 species, from L. novce-hollanclice. 



