98 Mr. B. Alexander — Expedition 



was in a moulting condition, the summer plumage just 

 beginning to show. 



6. OCEANODROMA CRYPTOLEUCURA. 



Specimens obtained : six males, four females ; four young in 

 down. Seven eggs. 



7. Pelagodroma marina. 



Specimens obtained : three males, eleven females. Nine 

 eggs. 



8. PUFFINUS ASSIMILIS (Gould) . 



Puffinus assimilis Ogilvie Grant, Ibis, 1896, p. 50 ; Salvin, 

 Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xxv. p. 384 (1896). 



The small Shearwaters belonging to this section are very- 

 puzzling. All our examples, though at first sight most 

 nearly allied to typical specimens of P. obscurus from the 

 Pelew Islands and elsewhere, have the outer half of the inner 

 webs of the primary quills distinctly paler than the part 

 next to the shaft, and shading into white towards the base. 

 In this respect they approach typical P. assimilis from 

 Australia, which has the outer half of the inner webs of the 

 primary quills pure white. Since all the examples obtained 

 by Mr. Ogilvie Grant at Madeira, Deserta Grande, Porto 

 Santo, and Great Salvage belong to the latter form, we 

 should certainly have expected to find typical P. assimilis at 

 the Cape Verde Islands. The under tail-coverts of these 

 Shearwaters vary much in colour. In P. obscurus they are 

 largely mixed with dark sooty-brown ; in typical P. assimilis 

 they are entirely white; while in our examples they are 

 mostly dark smoky-brown, only the shorter ones being mixed 

 with white, in this respect resembling the birds from 

 Madeira and the Salvage Islands, which are otherwise typical 

 P. assimilis. Again, in size of bill and length of wing the 

 Rombos Shearwaters agree with P. assimilis, so that, in 

 spite of the dusky inner webs of the primaries and the dark 

 colour of the under tail-coverts, it is advisable to refer 

 them to that species, though they seem to be somewhat 

 intermediate. 



