1 6 Alexander, Aiisiralian Species of Tiibinares. [isf'juiy 



and his assistants on the coast of New South Wales, and accounts 

 of the birds observed at sea by Dr. E. M. Ferguson and Dr. W. 

 Macgihivray. I have also made notes on the species seen on 

 four voyages across the Bight, some of which have appeared in 

 The Emu. 



The editor, knowing that 1 contemplated preparing a list of 

 Australian Petrels, has asked me to indicate the names which I 

 think should be used for these birds in the forthcoming edition of 

 the " Check-list," in order that these may serve as a basis for 

 discussion. The directions given by the R.A.O.U. for the 

 members of the Check-list Committee are that the names are to 

 be based on the principles of the International Code, and that 

 " such a generic standard be adopted as would indicate relation- 

 ship." 



I have decided to adopt as a generic standard in this group the 

 genus Puffin us, as defined by Salvin in the British Museum 

 " Catalogue " and followed by most subsequent writers. Divisions 

 of this large genus had already been accepted by Gould in his 

 " Handbook," but other Australian writers (until Mathews's work 

 appeared) had refused to follow Gould's lead in this family, 

 though they did so in others. Whilst using large genera in accord- 

 ance with the direction given, I have indicated as sub-generic 

 names the genera into which these large genera have been split 

 by Gould and other wTiters. 



" I have not expressed any opinions as to the validity or other- 

 wise of the sub-specific forms which have been recognized by 

 Mathews, as, except in one or two cases, I have not the necessary 

 material to form an opinion on this matter. I have given for 

 each species all the vernacular names that have been used by 

 recognized authorities. My own view is that sub-species do not 

 need vernacular names, and I have not given those that have 

 been suggested. 



Family HYDROBATID.E (Storm-Petrels or Mother Carey's 

 Chickens). 

 This family has commonly been called Procellariida;, but the 

 type of the genus Procellaria of Linnaeus is P. cequinoctialis, not 

 P. pdagica, as has commonly been supposed, so that the genus 

 Pyocdlaria belongs to the family usually known as Puffinidce. 



Genus Oceanites. 



Sub-genus Oceanites. 



Oceanites oceanicus (Kuhl). Yellow-webbed Storm-Petrel or 



Wilson Petrel. 



This species, according to Littler (" Birds of Tasmania," p. 157), 



is common in Tasmanian, seas, where it was observed by Gould 



in great numbers (i, p. 478). North of this latitude it is apparently 



uncommon, and very few specimens liave been obtained. One 



was picked up dead 9 miles inland at Marshalltown, Vic. (Leach, 



" Austral. Bird Book," p. 31). Hull records two off the coast of 



