506 BIRDS OF THE GALAPAGOS ARCHIPELAGO— RIDGWAY. volxix. 



Specific characters. — Similar to P. s«6is (Linnteus), but much smaller: 

 adult male less glossy, and " having no silky white feathers on the sides 

 of the back or sides of the breast" (8harpe) : adult female much darker 

 than that of P. subis. 



E<ni(7e.— Galapagos Archipelago: Charles Island (X«''boux); Indefati- 

 gable Island (Ilabel/ Albatross); James Island (Darwin, Kinberg). 



Adult male.— ^'iiimUaT to P. purpurea |i. e., P. subis], but smaller, and 

 having no silky white feathers either on the sides of the back or sides 

 of tbe breast. Total length, 6.5 inches; culmen, 0.45; wing, 4.95; tail, 

 2.7; tarsus, 0.45." (Sharpe.^) 



Adult female.— 'No. 11G038, U.S.N.M., Eden Rock, Indefatigable 

 Island, April 12; U. S. S. Albatross. Above sooty blackish, strongly 

 glossed with violaceous steel blue on back, scapulars, and rump, more 

 faintly glossed with greenish on wings and tail. Under parts deep 

 sooty brown, the feathers with very indistinct and narrow paler terra 

 inal margins. Wing, 4.85; tail, 2.40 (middle feathers, 1.90); exposed 

 culmen, 0.42; width of bill at rictus, 0.58, at anterior frontal feathers, 

 0.35; tarsus, 0.49; middle toe, 0.50. 



According to Gould ^ the adult male has "the upper and under sur- 

 face . . . not so stronglj^ a marked purple shade as in P. purpurea. 

 The primaries and feathers of the tail, however, have a greenish gloss, 

 perhaps slightly more metallic. Tail not so deeply forked as in P. pur- 

 purea, which is owing to the two external feathers on each side not 

 being so much prolonged and bent outward as in that species. Nos- 

 trils of less size than in the latter, although the beaks differ but little. 

 Claws and feet are much less strong," etc. 



The single adult male in the National Museum collection (No. 52412, 

 U.S.N.M., James Island, obtained from Professor Sundevall) is in worn 

 and tarnished plumage and therefore unfit for description. Its meas- 

 urements are as follows : Length (skin), 6.10; wing, 4.85; tail, 2.42 (mid- 

 dle feathers, 1.85); exposed culmen, 0.45, width of bill at base, 0.55; 

 tarsus, 0.48; middle toe, 0.45. 



The female of this species is totally different in the coloration of the 

 lower parts from that of P. subis, but much resembles "P. elegans,'^ 

 Baird,'* which was based on an immature male and young female of 

 P. /wrm/rt, Baird."^ It differs, however, from the two examples of "P. 

 elegans'" in having the paler tips to the feathers of the under parts far 

 less distinct (only appreciable, in fact, at near view). 



In the volume of the British Museum catalogue cited above, Mr. 

 Sharpe gives Chatham Island as the locality of the type specimen. 



'Seen, but not collected, at Puerto de la Aguada; see Trans. Zool. Soc. Lond., 

 IX, Pt. IX, 1876, p. 459. 



2 Cat. Birds Brit. Mas., X, 1885, p. 176. 



sZool. Beag., III. p. 39. 



•i Review AmtT. Birds, p. 275. 



" See Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mas., X, p. 176. 



