Buller. — On the Ornithology of Neio Zealand. 123 



CEstrelata leucophrys, Hutton. (Kermadec-Island Petrel.) 

 Under the above name Professor Hutton has described a 

 Petrel received from the Kermedec Islands. The description 

 was to appear in the " Proceedings " of the Zoological Society 

 after I left England, and a beautiful plate of it had been pre- 

 pared by Keulemans. It is as well to have it on record, but it 

 is by no means certain that it is a good species. I bad pre- 

 viously taken Home two specimens of this Petrel, which I had 

 received from Captain Fairchild. On submitting them to 

 Mr. Salvin, the great authority on the Petrel family, he 

 unhesitatingly pronounced it an aberrant form of CEstrelata 

 neglecta, which has a great tendency to vary. At Mr. Salvin's 

 request, I afterwards examined Professor Hutton's type at the 

 Zoological Society's rooms, and found it was identical with 

 the species I had submitted to him. Mr. Salvin's own verdict 

 was, " a bad species and a bad name." 



CEstrelata nigripennis, Eothschild; Ibis, vol. v., 1893, 



p. 573. 



A third new species pointed out by Mr. Salvin in Mr. 

 Walter Eothschild's beautiful collection of Petrels at Tring, 

 and named as above, comes from the Kermadec Islands. 

 " This species belongs to the CE. cooki (Gray) section of the 

 genus CEstrelata, of which CE. defilippiana is also a member. 

 It differs from all its congeners in having a short, stout, wide 

 bill, and in the almost total absence of white on the inner 

 webs of the outer primary beneath ; the under wing-coverts, 

 with the exception of a rather wide margin, being white, as 

 well as the axillary feathers." 



I do not know what authority Professor Hutton had for the 

 following reference to me in his recent communication to the 

 Zoological Society (Proc. Z.S., 1893, p. 750), of which he has 

 kindly sent me a copy : " CEstrelata nigripennis, Eothschild 

 (1893) = CE. cooki, Cheeseman (fide Buller), Trans. N.Z. Inst.,, 

 vol. xxiii., p. 224 ; not of Gray." I am not aware that I ever 

 saw Mr. Cheeseman's specimen ; and there is certainly no 

 warrant for this statement in that gentleman's paper (op. cit.) 

 on the Kermadec Petrels. Where Mr. Cheeseman sought my 

 assistance in identifying his specimens he has mentioned the 

 fact. 



CEstrelata axillaris, Salvin ; Ibis, 1893, p. 264. 



This is a very interesting addition to our list of native 

 species. In the collection of birds made by Mr. Hawkins at 

 the Chatham Islands, there were two specimens of a Petrel 

 allied to CEstrelata cooki, but differing in several marked cha- 

 racters, notably in having black axillary plumes. Mr. Salvin 

 states, "The skins were not quite adult, but were marked 



