A U D O U I N ’S GULL.
Larus Audouinii, Tern/m.
La Mouette d’Audouin.
A lthough we are not aware of any instance of the occurrence of this fine species of Gull in our seas, still
from a letter we have lately received from our friend M. J. Natterer, it would appear that it is by no means
rare in the Mediterranean, for says M. Natterer, “ I shot three of these gulls near Gibraltar and Tarifa, the
whole of which had white heads in the month of August, the species cannot therefore belong to that
section of the family which during this month have the head black.”
From our knowledge of birds, we should say that the present species is extremely local, and we have never
observed it in any of the many foreign collections we have had opportunities of examining. Our figure is
taken from a fine specimen sent to us by M. Temminck, but from what locality it was obtained is not stated.
It is probable that independently of those of the Mediterranean the whole of the coasts of Northern and
Western Africa constitutes its native habitat.
The situation of the nostrils in this species, together with the absence o f the black head in summer,
sufficiently indicates its separation, as M. Natterer has observed, from those gulls which we have included
under the generic title of Xema.
Head, neck, all the under surface and tail pure white; mantle and wings pale silvery grey; primaries
black, tipped with white; bill and legs red, the former crossed near the tip with two stripes of black.
We have figured a male in the summer plumage nearly of the natural size.