372 PUFFlNlSiT,. 



collection obtained in Queensland or New South Wales. Curiously enough, although it is not 

 known to occur in the seas of Eastern Australia, it is found on some of the islands of lloutman 

 Abrolhos, in Western Australia. , 



Mr. C. G. Gibson informs me he found Piiffinus assiiiiilis breeding on Wooded Island, off 

 East Wallaby Island, lloutman Abrolhos, in November, 1907. No eggs were found in any 

 of the burrows, all examined contained a newly fledged young bird. 



Dr. P. Herbert Metcalfe wrote as follows from Norfolk' Island : — " The nidification of 

 the Allied Petrel (Fiiffimis tissiiiillis ), \i it may be so called, is earlier than any other sea bird 

 breeding here. It lays in July and August. The eggs 1 have been fortunate enough to get 

 were generally found on a rock on the north of the island called Kedstone. ISut I have 

 seen a few specimens on Nepean Island and I'hillip Island. They are more often found under 

 the shelter of a rock or stone than in a burrow, and generally on bare sand. They are usually 

 oval in shape, nearly the same size at each end, and of a pure white. The Norfolk Islanders 

 name for this Petrel is ' Lao.' " 



Only one egg is laid for a sitting, inclining to an elongate-ovai in form, the shell being 

 close-grained and lustreless. It is pure white when first laid, but soon becomes more or less 

 soiled with the bird's feet. Two eggs in the Australian Museum Collection, taken by Dr. P. 

 H.Metcalfe on the 27th July, 1900, on Norfolk' Island, measure; — Length (A) 2-03 x i'4i 

 inches; (B) 2"i3 x i-3g inches. Two eggs taken by Dr. P. H. Metcalfe on the 25th August, 

 1S87, from the rocks off Norfolk Island, near Cascade Pay, measure : — Length (A) 2'05 x i'45 

 inches; (B) 2 x 1.38 incnes. Two eggs taken from the rock's off Steel's Point, on the 21st 

 July, 1892, measure : — Length (A) 2-03 x 1-41 inches; (B) 2-06 x 1-35 inches. Two eggs 

 taken in tiie same locality on the 23rd July, 1892, measure : — Length (A) 2^03 x i'38 inches; 

 (li) i'(;4 X r39 inches. 



The breeding season commences in July, and continues until the middle of (Jctober. 



Of its allies in Australian waters Forster's Petrel ('i^////(«;(5 ^'iiriVij is undoubtedly the nearest. 

 In addition to the specimen picked up in \'ictoria Park, Sydney, by the late Mr. F. J. Bourne, 

 on the 2nd August, 1S91, and that found by Mr. William Barnes, at Bondi, after an easterly 

 gale, and duly exhibited by me at a meeting of the Linnean Society of New Soutli Wales, 

 while examining the Proceli.arhi.k in the Macleay Museum, at the ITniversity of Sydney, 

 I found a third specimen in one of the drawers, labelled i'liffiiius j^avia, Elizabeth Bay, Port 

 Jackson, 15th January, 1880. 



CEstrelata leucoptera. 



WHITE-WINGED PETREL. 

 Procellaria lettcoptera, Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc, 1844, p. .^T. 

 FroceUaria cooki, Gould (nee Gray), Bds. Austr., fol. Vol. VII., pi. 51 (1848). 



O'JstreJata leucoptera, Gould, Handbk. Bds. Austr, Vol. 11., p. 454 (18G5) ; Salvin, Cat. Bds. Brit. 

 Mus., Vol. XXV., p. 41o (1896) ; Sharpe, Hand-1. Bds., Vol. L, p. 127 (1899). 

 Adult malk. — (ieiieral colour nJiore dark >:la/i/-(/re)/, somi' of f/ie shorter scap7i,/ars aiul feathers 

 071. the centre of the hack of a clearer yrey, and wit/i. ivhi/ish iiiarijins nroii.nd the tips; ?vings 

 blackish; tips of tlie greater-corerts slaly-yrey, narrowh/ edijed iit the tip with dull fvhite ; primaries 

 blackish; secondaries sla/y-grei/ a/n/. narrowly edged ivith irliite around the tips like the tips of the 

 greater-coverts ; basal portion of t/ie inner trebs of 7}iost of the (/iiills broadly margineil icith Tvhite, 



