Vol. xviii.j Mathews, " What are Australian Petrels ? " 85 



detinitely states that he "obtained specimens on my passage 

 from Hobart Town to Sydney." I cannot trace any of these skins. 

 Ramsay had no specimen in the Museum when he extended the 

 range to 10, 12, 13, and 14. Campbell cites the same range, 

 though apparently he only knew it from Macquarie Island. This 

 species should be sought for on account of Gould's explicit state- 

 ment, as otherwise there is no authentic record. It may be 

 recorded that Gould procured several species on this trip which 

 have since been scarce or not otherwise collected. 



Pterodroma macroptera gouldi (Great-winged Petrel). — Gould 

 wrote :— " Of this genus {Pteyodronia), which is intended to com- 

 prise the nearly uniformly coloured black Petrels of the Southern 

 Ocean, there are at least three species which frequent the Aus- 

 tralian seas . . . Pterodroma macroptera. — I consider a bird 

 I killed over the seas surrounding Tasmania, where it was 

 tolerably abundant, and which differs from the next species 

 Pterodroma atlantica. — ^This species frequents both the 

 Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans. . . . Pterodroma solandri. 

 — I shot a single individual in Bass Strait on the 13th of March, 

 1839." 



None of the three above mentioned has been met with in 

 Tasmanian seas during the succeeding nearly eighty years. 

 Ramsay had not specimens of any of the three in the Museum, 

 and gave the range of the first as 10, 13, of the second 13 only, 

 and of the last 7, 10, 12, 13, and 14. Campbell, ranging the first 

 two together, gave the distribution as " seas of New South Wales, 

 Victoria (probably), and Tasmania," but gave no further records, 

 quoting New Zealand accounts of the breeding habits. I have 

 been unable to trace any record, but the caution necessary in 

 dealing with these night-birds is evidenced by the discovery of 

 a form breeding on the south-west coast of Western Australia. 

 It is thus quite possible that there may be a form breeding off 

 Tasmania ; but we are not listing possibilities, so that until we 

 secure specimens this species should not be included in the Aus- 

 tralian list. 



Pterodroma melanopus (Brown-headed Petrel). — This may be 

 here dealt with. Campbell wrote : — " The Brown-headed or 

 Solander Petrel has been recorded for all Australian seas except 

 north and north-west. However, most probably it is found off 

 the latter coast. Gould procured his type in Bass Strait, 13th 

 March, 183Q. So long ago ! yet nothing is known of its breeding 

 ([uarters. When thev are discovered thev mav prov^e to be high 

 land of some verdure-clad island of the warm Pacific, and not 

 the usual Petrel abode — a bleak island of the south." I have 

 quoted this because, through a peculiar coincidence, this happy 

 suggestion proved to be correct, and ten years later it was found 

 to breed on Lord Howe Island. I have given full details in my 

 " Birds of Australia," but so far no other straggler has been met 

 with in Australian waters. 



