58.2 Messrs. G. M. Mathews and T. Iredale on some 



May '02, Oceanodroma tristranii Salvin ?/' measures : — 

 Culmen 19 mm. ; wing 182; outer tail-feathers 103; middle 

 tail-feathers 70; tarsus 29*5 ; middle toe 26. In this bird 

 the coloration of the head, \\ec\, and back is darker (? due to 

 oil), while the upper tail-covert patch of brown is lighter and 

 more noticeable and the light wing-bar more pronounced. 



This bird agrees very well in coloration and size with 

 O. markhami Salvin, but is at once separated by the 

 difference in the structure of the feer. In our bird the 

 tarsus is heavy and the toes stout and long, Avhile 0. mark- 

 hami has proportionately small and delicate legs and feet. 



In the ' Monograph of Petrels' O. tristram,i Stejneger is 

 maintained, though the type was stated to be lost. This 

 species was described by Salvin in the Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. 

 vol. XXV. 189G, p. 354, the name used being a manuscript 

 one of Stejneger. The description given is generally appli- 

 cable to any of this group, but the measurements read : 

 ''Wing 6-20; tail 3-78, forked for 1-60; culmen 0-70, 

 depth of bill through middle 0*2() ; tarsus 1*10; middle 

 toe with claw i*]2 in.'' The locality was " Sendai Bay, 

 Japan " ; and Salvin notes it may have been immature, as 

 the primaries were not fully grown. 



In view of the discoveries of American ornithologists 

 with regard to birds of this genus, the discrepancies in the 

 measurements are too great to be minimised. This, in con- 

 nection with the fact that the type is lost, necessitates the 

 rejection of the name in this connection; and after studying 

 this group, we suggest that the only method of identifying 

 0. tristrami will be by means of specimens from Sendai Bay 

 itself. Until a series from that locality is procured, the 

 name should be regarded as indeterminable. 



Family PUFFINID^. 

 In the 'Birds of Australia,' vol. ii. 1912, p. 130, Mathews 

 drew attention to the great distinction between the bills 

 of the downy young of birds of the genera Puffinus and 

 Pterodroma, and illustrated the diflferences with a figure. 

 He continued the subfamily separation made in the ' Mono- 

 graph,' and suggested that Prucellai'ia { = Majaqueus auct.) 



