^"I'a^^'l Alexandkk, a uslraliiui Species of Tubinaves. IQ 



script as Ncciris iiiii^dx, was of this sju'cics. The l>iitisli Musruni 

 has a specimen from the New Hebrides, and aiuAher reputed to 

 be from New Zealand ; so it is not improbable that it may occur 

 in ICast Australian seas. Solander's specimen is not in existence, 

 and the description does not seem to me complete enough to decide 

 to what bird it refers, so I do not consider the species should 

 appear on our list.] 



Sub-genus Rcinholdia. 

 Pii funis gavia (Forster). Forster, Brown-backed, or Fluttering 

 Petrel or Shearwater. 



Specimens of this species have been obtained on the coasts of 

 New South Wales and Victoria, and Hull met with large numbers 

 on the coast at UUaduUa, New South Wales, in December, 1915 

 {Emii, XV., p. 210). Up to the present they have not been found 

 breeding. 



The type of Forster's Puffinus gavia came from New Zealand. 

 Mathews considers that Forster's bird was really the New Zealand 

 form of P. assimilis, and renamed this species P. reinholdi. 

 Loomis considers that the reasons given for making this change 

 are unconvincing (g, p. 60), and I quite agree with him, and there- 

 fore use P. gavia. Mathews separated the species from the genus 

 Puffiniis, providing the genus Reinholdia. Subsequently Hull 

 described the birds he obtained at Ulladulla under the name of 

 Cinathisma cyaneoleuca {Emu, xv., p. 205), apparently misled by 

 the difference between the freshly-killed bird and old, faded skins. 



Mathews separates the Australian birds from the typical New 

 Zealand race under the name byroni. A specimen in the British 

 Museum, presented by the South Australian Museum, and labelled 

 " Adelaide," belongs, according to Mathews, to the race which 

 breeds at Snares Island, New Zealand, named by him huttoni. 

 He states, however, that there is no evidence that it was obtained 

 in South Australia. 



Sub-genus Thydludronia. 

 Pitffinus pacifictis (Gnielin). Wedge-tailed Petrel, Shearwater, or 

 Mutton- Bird. 



This species breeds on islands off the coasts of East and West 

 Australia. On the east coast from Montague Island (36° S. lat.) 

 to Raine Island (11" S. lat.) ; on the west coast, from Carnac 

 Island, off Fremantle, north, at least, to the Dampier Archipelago. 



This species exhibits a light-breasted phase, which has been 

 named P. cuneatiis, and which, in some localities, is the only form 

 found, whilst in others the two occur together. Mathews has 

 stated that this form is absent in Australia, but Gould figured one 

 in his " Birds of Australia," vol. vii. Hull states that in East 

 Australian birds the under surface shows a range from light to 

 dark {Emu, xv., p. 208) ; and there is in the West Australian Museum 

 a light-breasted individual oljtained by Mr. T. Carter at Shark 

 Bay. 



this bird has usually been known as P. chlorurhynchus, Lesson 



