PACIFIC GULL. 
Distinctive characters. This species, although one of three that are equally black 
or purple-blacked, is easily distinguished by the remarkable depth and gibbosity of the 
beak, as well as by the dark band across the tail. 
No locality was known but he recognised in this bird the one Parkinson 
noticed on the Great Barrier Reef, and inserted in his description the soft 
parts given by Parkinson. On account of that the type-locality has been 
accepted as Queensland (see Nov. ZooL, Vol. XVIII., p. 212, 1912) ; but there 
seems no good reason for this. By Bonaparte it was used for a smaller form, 
as instanced in the Naumannia, 1854, p. 211, where he gave: 
Gabianus paciflcus Lath (major) ex. Austr. 
Gdbianus hathyrhynchus'M.SiGG^ (minor) ex. Austr. 
He also impressed this upon Bruch who in his later “ Review of the Laridce ” 
{Journ. filr OrnitJi., 1855) wrote, p. 274: “ Unter Gdbianus erschienen zwei 
Vogel von sehr verschiedenen Grosse, wie ich diess schon bemerkt habe ; ob 
aber pacificus, leucmnelas and Georgii Vig., oder bathyrJiynchus der grosser 
Oder kleiner sei, wird schwer zu entschienden sein ” ; and admitted on p. 280 : 
G. bathyrhynchus. Vaterland und Zeichnung wie beim vorigen, aber kleiner 
von Gesalt und der Schnabel an der Wurzel mehr zusammengedruckt.” 
I cannot see much in Macgillivray’s description to conclude that he was 
handling a smaller bird, and it might be noted that he considered his bird 
identical with Vieillot’s L. leucomelas, and only introduced the new name 
L. bathyrinchus because he said leucmnelas was not distinctive, as it was 
applicable just as fairly to other birds. 
Perhaps the correct course would be to pass L. bathyrinchus into the 
synonymy of L. frontalis, but the description does not exactly apply to any 
Tasmanian birds I have examined. 
In the meanwhile, on account of lack of sufficient material, I am only 
recognising an Eastern and a Western bird. 
There is however a good field for investigation, as it is quite possible 
that as many subspecies of this Gull exist as is known of the preceding 
Bruchigavia novoe-hollandice. 
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479 
