Oedbr LARIFORMES.J 



[Family LARIDyE. 



LARUS DOMINICANUS. 



(SOUTHERN BLACK-BACKED GULL.) 



Larus dominicanus, Licht. ; Buller, Birds of New Zealand, yoI. ii., p. $7. 



This Sea-gull, under the protective legislation, has become very numerous of late years in 

 Lyttelton Harbour; and it is a pretty sight to see them hovering about among the shipping. 

 It is remarkable that the young birds in grey plumage do not, as a rule, accompany the old ones in 

 their flights inland to forage on the fields. 



As a contribution to the history of this well-known species, the following note, furnished by 

 the late Mr. Drew to the Wanganui Chronicle, is worth preserving : " It is not at all uncommon 

 to see both kinds of our Sea-gulls as pets on lawns and gardens, but I think it very uncommon to 

 find them nesting and producing eggs in captivity. This singularly rare ornithological occurrence 

 has come under my notice lately. Mrs. Martin, of Wilson Street, has one of these pets ; it is the 

 large Black-backed dull {Larus dominicanus) or the Karoro of the Maoris. The bird is quite tame 

 — comes when called, &c. — but during the whole nineteen years of its captivity has never started 

 egg-laying ; in fact, was always thought to be a male bird. But this year, to the surprise of her 

 mistress, she has constructed a nicely-built nest, and in it has laid three beautiful spotted eggs. 

 ' Maori ' — for so she is called — is fruitlessly sitting on her unfertile eggs— or, I should say, on two 

 of her own and one hen's egg, for the third egg has been taken from her and is now in the Museum. 

 I wonder if she has noticed the difference ! " 



At New Waddington station, in the Canterbury district, about forty miles from the coast, I 

 saw in the month of March over a hundred of these Gulls in a field which had been turned over 

 by the plough. They were busy foraging in the loose ground for worms and grubs; and 

 what struck me as curious was that there was not a single bird in the grey garb of immaturity 

 present there. They were all adult birds in black and white plumage. The young birds have 

 either not the courage to leave the sea or the strength of wing necessary for such an excursion. 



There is a wonderfully massive nest of this species in the Canterbury Museum, measuring 

 over two feet in length by eighteen inches in width, with a thickness of nearly a foot. It 

 is composed of sea-weed and other drift vegetation pressed together and forming a substantial 

 structure — so built probably in order to be out of the reach of the surf. 



On leaving Auckland Harbour (in October) I saw something which I had not observed 

 for years : in a flock of Sea-gulls following our steamer there were two birds with a dark breast, 

 the line of demarcation being quite even — and more pronounced in one than in the other — almost 

 as distinct in fact as on a Wood-pigeon's breast. Both had black tails and exhibited changing 

 plumage on the back, showing that they were merely transitional states of Larus dominicanus. 



The protection of the Sea-gull is undoubtedly having a very good effect, and a wise protection 

 it is, for there is not a more useful bird as a scavenger of our harbours. They have recognised this 

 fact in San Francisco, where, I understand, the penalty by law for killing a Sea-gull is three 

 months' imprisonment, without the option of a fine. 



In the Liverpool Museum there are seventeen specimens from New Zealand, Chili, 

 Kerguelen's Land, and South Africa ; and the British Museum also contains an excellent series. 



