^'°i9.^i^'] f-I-:RGUSON, Notes on Australian Tuhinares. Ill 



eiiv! of the Ijight, our ship passed ihrouj^h Hocks of these birds. 

 1 have not met with them a^^jain in such numbers, but have seen 

 isolated specimens in the South Indian Ocean, and between Tas- 

 mania and the Blufi". 



The Prions are quite hopeless of identification at sea. One 

 sees them on every voyage, often in considerable numbers, but 

 it is impossible to distinguish the dififerent species. The Blue 

 Petrel (Halobccna cccrulca) I have queried as identified by me 

 between Colombo and Fremantle, as recorded earlier in this jmper. 



The above list traverses practically all the Australian species of 

 Petrels with which I am familiar. Mv notes contain references 

 lo birds seen to which a name could l)e attached only with a con- 

 siderable amount of uncertaintw 



Some additions may perhaps be made in time to the lists given 

 by Alexander. I'irds breeding in Lord Howe and Norfolk Is- 

 lands, or even the Kermadecs, may ]3erhaps occur at long intervals, 

 as in the instance of the •P>rown-headed Petrel (Ptcrodroiiia 

 niclanopus). I have noted species between Sydney and Auck- 

 land that were tentatively identified with P. uielanohns and 

 P. cervicalis, and it is quite possible that with easterly gales 

 these may be brought to our shores. The Cape Hen {Procellaria 

 (fquinoctkilis) will, 1 feel certain, be found to occur in Tas- 

 manian waters, and be thus restored to our list. The occurrence 

 of the Spectacled Petrel {P. conspicUlata) is a ciucstion that will 

 require careful investigation, and will l)c settled only h\ |)rocur- 

 ing specimens. 



Alexander quotes ii species of which Australian breeding- 

 grounds are known, and 26 that are visitors. Is it likely that 

 others not known to breed in Australia will ultimately be found 

 to do so? The case of the Forster, or Fluttering, Petrel 

 ( Puffinns gavia) requires investigation ; from the large numbers^ 

 in which this bird occurs along the New South Wales coast, I 

 think it is almost certain that it does breed somewhere along the 

 coast. Breeding grounds may readily be overlooked, and com- 

 paratively few of the islands that skirt the southern shores of the 

 continent have been systematically searched. There is room 

 here for a well-organised expedition to examine in detail the 

 islands in Bass Strait, off the Tasmanian coast, and in the Aus- 

 tralian Bight. 



In the following table I have arranged the species of which 

 no breeding areas are recorded in Australia, according to their 

 nearest-known breeding place. The table was originally drawn 

 up on the species as contained in Alexander's list, subsequently 

 altered to conform with the list given by Mathews, in The Ijir.ls 

 of Australia, Supplement i, and was linally redrafted according 

 to the species given in the recent ^Manual of the Birds of Aus- 

 tralia by Mathews and Iredale. Twenty-nine species are listed, 

 of which six are of doubtful occurrence, or of which no speci- 

 mens are available for sub-specific determination. Of the re- 

 maining twenty-three species, nine are known to breed in New 



