2 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol. 124 



birds from the Hawaiian Leeward Islands of Nihoa, Necker, French 

 Frigate Shoals, Gardner Pinnacles, Laysan, Lisianski, Pearl and 

 Hermes Reef, Midway, and Kure. The records here presented are 

 primarily of specimens collected from February 1963 through March 

 1967 by members of the Pacific Ocean Biological Survey Program 

 although we include some well-documented sight records as well. 

 In addition, Dr. Alexander Wetmore, who visited the Hawaiian 

 Leewards in 1923 (see Wetmore, 1925), has kindly permitted us to 

 report several previously unreported specimens obtained by him 

 during his trip. 



Common and scientific names are taken from the "American 

 Ornithological Union Checklist" (AOU, 1957), Vaurie (1959, 1965), 

 and King (1967). Procellariiformes, gulls, and terns are from King, and 

 all other species are from the "A. O. U. Checklist" or, when not in that 

 list, from Vaurie. Major alternatives of the common names are listed 

 in parentheses. 



Order of the species accounts follows Peter's "Checklist" (1931— 

 1967) and Mayr and Greenway (1956), with the exception of the 

 Procellariiformes, which conform to the recent recommendations of 

 W. B. Alexander, et al. (1965). 



Whenever possible, the age of vagrant birds was determined to 

 discover whether their occurrence might be restricted to a particular 

 age-class. Many of the vagrants, however, were found as long-dead, 

 very partial remains; consequently, no such determinations could be 

 made. 



A number of the shorebirds collected during the fall could be aged 

 by the shape of the tibio-tarsus. In young of the year this bone be- 

 comes gradually thicker from the distal to the proximal end, whereas, 

 in adults, the sides of the legs are almost parallel for most of their 

 length and then flare out abruptly at the proximal end (R. Zusi, pers. 

 comm.). This character is not reliable during the spring and is con- 

 siderably more difficult to determine in the smaller species of shore- 

 birds. We thus include here ages for only those birds for which we 

 believe that our age-determinations are completely reliable. 



Gulls and ducks were aged by plumage characters when possible. 

 Kortright (1942) and the "British Handbook" (Witherby, 1939) were 

 used as sources of age characters for ducks ; the latter work (Witherby, 

 1941) and Dwight (1901) were used for gulls. Molt terminology in 

 these sources and in this paper conforms to Dwight (1900, 1901). 



Many of the plumages observed in the specimens of gulls and ducks 

 are aberrant in that molt in some feather tracts was considerably re- 

 tarded, presumably in response to abnormal environmental or physio- 

 logical conditions. 



