288 
THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA 
flapping in character. Most of its food, which is procured from the 
surface of the water, consists of fish, squids, crustaceans, and other marine- 
life, also refuse from ships. This Petrel is a scavenger, it also kills and 
devours other sea-birds. There is a white phase of this species which is 
practically confined to the neighbourhood of the Antarctic Circle. Breeds 
on the South Shetlands, South Orkneys, and South Georgia, Falkland 
Islands, Tristan da Cunha, and the Gough, Prince Edward, Marion, the 
Crozet, Kerguelen, Macquarie, and Heard Islands, and the sub-Antarctic 
islands of New Zealand. 
Nest. — A hollowed, cone-shaped structure, composed of earth and 
excreta. 
Egg. — White. Breeding-season: September to January. 
29. Pacific Gull Gabianus pacificus Latham 
Gab-i-d'-nus — N.L., gabianus, gull : pacificus — of the Pacific Ocean. 
Distribution. — Tasmania and southern Australia, from Shark Bay 
(Western Australia) to Rockhampton (Queensland). 
Notes. — Usually singly or in pairs, frequenting chiefly the seas of 
South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania, and the larger islands of Bass 
Strait, being rather rare in Western Australia, New South Wales, and 
Queensland. It is a true scavenger and also a notorious egg robber. Most 
of its food is procured from the surface of the water, and consists of fish 
and marine animals, also galley-refuse from ships. Breeds on islands in 
Bass Strait and headlands of Tasmania. Immature birds are brown, the 
feathers being mottled with pale edges. 
Nest. — A depression in the ground, neatly lined with grass or other 
herbage; generally situated in the shelter of a tussock of grass or a low 
bush. 
Eggs. — One to three, varying from pale olive or grey to pale olive- 
brown, blotched all over with reddish-brown and lavender markings. 
Breeding-season : September to January. 
