5o6 



SNODGRASS AND HELLER 



and 93 mm. beyond the middle pair ; their outer webs and basal two 

 thirds of inner webs white ; inner web on its terminal third passing 

 into dark brown but paling again near the tip. Inner edge of folded 

 wing white. Forehead white, the white prolonged backward on each 

 side of head as a white line to above the fore part of the eye. Lores 

 black, connected with the black of top of head by a narrow black 

 band above and another below the eye. Sides of head, under wing 

 coverts and entire under parts white ; a grayish tinge on posterior part 

 of the belly and under tail coverts. Under surfaces of primaries and 

 rectrices grayish-brown, under surfaces of their shafts ivory white. 

 Bill and feet, in the dried skin, black with a slight purplish or reddish 

 tinge. 



None of the male specimens have the outer tail feathers well devel- 

 oped as streamers. In nearly all they are plain dark brown, grayish at 

 base, and but little longer than the second pair of rectrices. One 

 male has the outer pair grayish on the outer webs. None of the speci- 

 mens show the " flecks of white on the lores and crown " mentioned 

 by Saunders. 



All the specimens, seven in number, six male and one female, 

 are adult and were taken at Clipperton in November, 1898. Their 

 measurements follow. 



The average length of culmen, from the above table, is 41 mm. 

 w^hich is considerably shorter than that given by Saunders ^ and by Ridg- 

 way.^ The table also shows that the wings do not exceed 28S mm. 

 in length. Rothschild ^ also noted the shortness of the wings in his 

 specimens from the Galapagos, stating, however, that in one specimen 

 they reached 310 mm. 



These birds were extremely abundant on and about the small islands 

 in the northwest part of the Clipperton lagoon where they were nesting, 



'Saunders, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., xxv, p. 106. 

 ^Ridgway, Manual of N. A. Birds, 2d ed., p. 45. 

 ^Rothschild, Novitates Zodlogicae, vi, p. 191. 



