ART. 10 BIRDS OF PINCHOT EXPEDITION FISHER AND WETMORE 27 



Daphne Island, June 23, male; Hood Island, July 1, two females. 

 Allocation of this bird as a race of Puffinus Iherminieri is in accord- 

 ance with the recent review of Murphy.^^ 



This shearwater was a common species over the open water, at 

 times out of sight of land, and along the nesting cliffs of all the 

 islands of the Galapagos group that were visited. The majority of 

 the specimens collected were taken in the vicinity of their nesting 

 places. 



When they were returning to their nesting crevices they often 

 seemed to have difficulty in flying into the hole, and would circle 

 around and make half a dozen attempts before succeeding. When 

 small fish fry are driven to the surface by bonitos or other preda- 

 cious fish, this shearwater often joins with the noddy tern in secur- 

 ing the smaller individuals. When the shoal is large they will 

 alight at times on the surface and take the fish as they pass by. 



The flight of this species is characteristic and resembles that of 

 a swift more than it does that of its longer- winged relatives. 



PTERODROMA PHAEOPYGIA (SalTin) 



Dark-rumped petrel 



OEstrelata phaeopygia Salvin, Trans. Zool. Soc. London, vol. 9, 1876, p. 

 507, pi. 88, fig. 1. (Chatham Island, Galapagos Archipelago.) 



Two females came aboard ship at Academy Bay, Indefatigable 

 Island, in the Galapagos, on the night of June 8, 1929. These 

 birds appear to be fully adult. 



Mathews,^^ following Rothschild,^" has recently revived OEstrelata 

 sandivichensis, described by Ridgway from Hawaii, as a subspecies 

 of P. phaeopygia, for which there may be reason. With four skins 

 of phaeopygia at hand, including two from the coast of Ecuador 

 in addition to the two listed above from the Galapagos, there is no 

 close approach to the type of sarulwichensis in small size of bill. 

 The latter does not show light edgings on the feathers of the back, 

 present in the four phaeopygia, although this lack is perhaps due 

 to wear. The question is one that should be checked with additional 

 material.^^ 



The two females from the collections of the Pinchot expedition 

 measure as follows : 



Wing, 293.0-295.0; tail, 134.0-150.0; culmen from base, 33.3-34.0; 

 tarsus, 37.3-38.3 mm. 



»»Amer. Mus. Nov., No. 276, Sept. 8, 1927, pp. 7-8. 



^ Syst. Av. Austr., pt. 1, 1927, p. 120. 



^'Av. Laysan, pt. 3, 1900, pp. 289-290. 



"^ In this connection see Ridgway, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 19, 1897. pp. 648-650. 



