84 Letters, Announcements, t^c. 



bluish white ; in the young bird the bill, legs, and feet are 

 brownish black. It is abundant on Stewart's Island, and pro- 

 bably also on the Auckland Islands. 



Procellaria gavia, Yorst. , = Piiffimis opisthomehs, Coues. 



The locality, Queen Charlotte's Sound, and the habit, '^ gre- 

 garia," given by Forster are enough to show that his bird was 

 not an jEstrelata, which never frequents the Sound, and never 

 flies in flocks. The only gregarious Petrels belong to the genera 

 Halodroma, Puffinus, Prion, and Daptioji. The first and last are 

 of course out of the question ; and the length of the tail of 

 gavia (2*5") puts Prion out of the question also. The colour 

 also •(" cserulescenti-uigra ") is much nearer to that of P. opistho- 

 melas than to any Prion or to P. cookii. P. opisthomelas 

 varies considerably in size, especially in the length of the tail ; 

 but the following may be taken as an average of New-Zealand 

 specimens. 



Expanse 26", length 12^ to 13^; bill along culmen 1^, to 

 gape 2 ; tail 3'5 to 2*75. These measurements are almost iden- 

 tical with those given by Forster*. I have never seen any 

 species of jJLstrelata in Queen Charlotte's Sound ; but Puffinus 

 opisthomelas is common there. 



Yours truly, 



F. W. HUTTON. 



Geological Survey Office, 

 Calcutta, August 25, 1871. 



Sir, — Prinia adamsi, Jerdon, 'Birds of India,' ii. p. 170, has 

 remained an obscure species ever since its description, and is in- 

 cluded in the list of doubtful forms in Jerdon's Appendix. Rather 

 more than two years ago Mr. Fairbank collected specimens at 

 Wadale (in the Upper Godavari valley, near Ahmadnagur, and 

 about 150 miles east of Bombay) which he looked upon as be- 

 longing to this species ; and, with his usual liberality, he left 

 four specimens and the nest in my hands for more complete 

 description. I had hoped to include an account of them 



* Forster gives the tibife of P. r/avia 1 J inch ; this, I think, must be 

 a mistake for tarsi ; the tibia of P. opisthonwlas is 2^ inch, the taraus 

 If inch. 



