Letters, Announcements, ^c. 351 



Auckland, 7th March, 1869. 

 Sir, — I send you the description of two birds in the Auck- 

 land Museum : the first, Majaqueus parkinsoni (G. R. Gray), I 

 got in December 1867, on the Little Barrier Island, about sixty 

 miles from Auckland ; and the second is the species mentioned by 

 Mr. Gould as having been shot by him off Tasmania, and referred 

 by him to Procellaria macroptera, A. Smith. I have not got 

 Sir Andrew^s work here ; but I have a copy of his figure of that 

 species, and I do not think it is the same as mine, as it has no 

 grey on its face, and a circle of white feathers round the eye. If 

 it be new, I propose that it should bear Mr. Gould's name, as, 

 strange to say, he has no Petrel called after him, although he 

 has done so much in working them up ; and he also appears to 

 have been the first to mention this bird. 



Majaqueus parkinsoni. 



Procellaria parkinsoni, G. R. Gray, Ibis, 1862, p. 245. 



Bill stout, compressed, nasal tubes obliquely flattened, cari- 

 nated. Lateral parts of upper mandible, below sulcus of lower 

 mandible, and flattened portions of nasal tube bluish white. 

 Unguis and gonys bluish white, with edges inclining to black. 

 Culmen, lower mandible above sulcus, lower and basal upper 

 part of tube, and nostrils black. Legs and feet black. Head 

 and neck sooty-black : rest of body, wings, and tail very dark 

 brown, lighter brown on the abdomen. Tail short, rounded, 

 wings, when folded, reaching 2 inches beyond the tip. 



Length 18 inches, wing from carpal joint 13*75, tail 4'2. 

 Bill from gape 2, chord of culmen 1'5 ; height at base -75, 

 width '65 ; nasal tubes "5 ; tarsus 2*1 ; outer toe and claw 

 2*5, inner 2*25 ; middle, with claw, 2*75, without, 2*25. 



Breeds in holes under the roots of trees, at elevations from 

 1000 to 2000 feet above the sea, on the Little Bax-rier Island, 

 Haurabi Gulf, New Zealand. Lays one white egg, ovoid, length 

 2*8, greatest breadth 2. Sits in December. " Toa-nui'' of the 

 natives. 



iEsTRELATA GOULDI, Ulihi. 



Pterodroma macroptcra, Gould, Handb. B. Austral, li. p. 149 

 {ncc A. Smith). 



