( 19fi ) 



below, feet bluish white, tlic outer toe black, tarsi bhiish white, blackish along the 

 back and on the lower portion of the outside. Iris light blue." 



During the last days of July a great many eggs were found on Culpepper 

 Island in holes under rocks, among sea-weeds. The number of eggs is only one. 

 They are pure white, without gloss but smooth; if held against the light they look 

 either almost jiure white or light green. They measure 54 by 35, o'io by 35, 

 47 by 34'5 mm., and so on. 



'/. Puffinus obscurus bailloni P>p. 



Piiffinua Ixiillmii, Bonaparte mCnmpt. Heml. Ac. &-. XLI. p. 8, tabl. XI. Longip. p. 23, sp. 80(1850); 



id. Comp. Ai: II. p. '>i)b (18.i7). 

 Puffinus obscurus of many authors from the .\tlantic Ocean, Madagascar, Mauritius, Reunion. 

 J\Wtris ijamii (non Bonaparte), Hartlaub, Minhniitscii; p. 84 (exelus. .Synon.). 



Puffinus ass-imllls (non Gould !), Salvin, Oil. H. Brit, .\liis. XXV. p. 384 (partim : specimens a to w). 

 (?) Puffinus f/.;/ans, Giglioli i- Salvadori in Ihis, 186y, p. C8 ; Salvin, Cat. B. Brit, .l/iis. XXV. p. 385 



(literature) ; id. in Rowley's Om. Misc. I. p. 256, PI. XXXIV. 



This form seems to be found round the coasts of Africa, from Madeira (Desertas, 

 Porto .Santo), the Canary Islands, the Cape Verd Islands, round the Cape of Good 

 Hope to Madagascar, the .Seychelles, Mauritius, etc. If the former should be 

 found to be separable, they would require a new uame. We cannot, however, witli 

 the meagre material available, discover any differences constant enough for the 

 separation of the Atlantic form from that of the Seychelles (etc.). 



P. bailloni is most poorly diagnosed, but in the words " nigro-plumbeus " 

 (sc. supra) used by Bouaparte for his P. nmja.i: (ex Australia) and " nigricans " 

 (sc. supra) for his P. bailloni (ex Insula Frauciae), together witli the locality, 

 sufficient reason may be found to accept bailloni rather than create a uame for the 

 bird under consideration. 



P. elegans, shot at lat. 43" 54' S., long. 9' 20' E., may be the young of y'. bailloni. 



AVe have still to ask "Quid Procellaria muntla Kuhl?"as Bouaparte did in 

 1857, Giglioli & Salvadori in 1809. In Vol. XXV. of the Catalogue of Birds, 

 where one would have expected an explanation, we do not find this name even 

 mentioned, nor one or two other hitherto unidentified Prorcllnriidae. 



P. builloni differs very little from P. obscurus and our forms a, b, c. There is, 

 however, generally a distinctly pronounced bluish tint above, more slaty, not so 

 brown as in a, b, c, but the birds arc mostly not quite so bluish as P. assimilis. 

 Tlie sides of the head are not sharply separated in black and white, as in P. subalaris, 

 but more or less mottled, the demarcation line between the two colours being not 

 very well defined. Sides of chest with dusky patch, as in forms a and b. Under 

 tail-coverts variable, sometimes almost or pure white, sometimes with as much 

 dusky black as in forms a and b. The bill is slightly shorter than in /'. olMcurus. 

 The inner webs of tlie i.rimaries are paler than in a, b, c, sometimes not much so, 

 but often nearly as light, but not quite so clear white, and the colours evidently not 

 so sharjjly defined as in /'. assimilis. 



There is nothing peculiar in the distribution of /'. builloni as accepted here, 

 petrels of course, in spite of their pelagic life, being Ijound to coasts and islands for 

 nesting purpo.ses, and seldom being seen far away from laud. (Jn the other hand, 

 further studies are required to confirm — as we hojic — our present view on these 

 forms. 



