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Show 210 MR. H. SAUNDERS ON THE LARIN.E. [Feb. 5, roughly speaking, as far as 40° N. lat.; but Messrs. Sclater and Salvin have recently shown me a specimen from Prof. Steere's collection1, Mus. University of Michigan, labelled" Macabi, September 1872," and on the card-label "Tumbez," Macabi Island being a little to the north of Huanchacho on the coast of Peru, in nearly 8° S. lat.-an enormous extension of its previously known limits. It is in adult plumage, with the exception of some dusky feathers on the nape; the forehead and head are white and devoid of the hood, which it was reasonable to suppose would only be worn during the breeding-season, although this is the first absolute proof I have had of this; the bill as in adults; the tail white and well-forked; feet rather faded. I imagine this to be a bird of the second year. This species has once occurred at the Bermudas. The name of X. collaris was applied to this species as a synonym in the 8vo edition of Ross's 'Voyage' (1819), under the erroneous impression that this was the L. collaris to which Prof. Schreibers, then Director of the Vienna Museum, had given that MS. and unpublished name; but as a matter of fact that name belongs to an example of Rhodostethia rosea. For the elucidation of this point I am indebted to the kindness of Herr A. von Pelzeln, who also informs me that the Vienna Museum is the possessor of what is probably the oldest specimen of this species in any European collection, it having been received, without any published name or description, from the Ornithological Institution of that city about 1806. 49. XEMA FURCATUM (Neboux). Mouette a queue fourchue, Neboux, Rev. Zool. 1840, p. 290. Larus furcatus (Neboux), Voy. 'Venus,' Atlas, pl. x. (1846); Prevost & Des Murs, Voy. ' Venus,' v. Ois. p. 277 (1855). Xema furcatus, Bruch, J. f. Orn. 1853, p. 103. Creagrus furcatus, Bp. Naumannia, 1854, p. 213; Bruch, J. f. Orn. 1855, p. 292 ; Salvin, Tr. Zool. S. ix. p. 506 (Galapagos). Hab. The type of this species in the museum of Paris is said to have been obtained at Monterey, California, in November, by Dr. Neboux of the French frigate 'Venus.' The only other specimen known to exist is in the British Museum, and was obtained during the voyage of H.M.S.'s 'Herald' and 'Pandora,' at Dalrymple Rock, Chatham Island, Galapagos group. The 'Herald' appears to have visited Chatham Island between the 11th and 16th January, a date which is worth bearing in mind, as the British-Museum specimen seems to be in fully adult plumage ; the grey tint which pervades the lower part of the neck and breast in the Paris specimen, and which is probably a sign of comparative immaturity, having disappeared, leaving the hood well defined. But for the absence of the distinct collar at the bottom of the hood, and the narrow white band of feathers at the base of the upper mandible, this bird might be briefly described as a gigantic Sabine's Gull, the tail being rather more forked in proportion than in that species. It is certainly remarkable that, in spite of the researches of the American naturalists, no other speci- 1 See above, p. 141. |
