^°i9?2^'] ALEXANDER, Australian Sea Birds. 263 



In the Indian Ocean, Wilson's Petrel has been obtained off 

 the Mekran coast of the Arabian Sea in May, and there is a 

 specimen in the British Museum supposed t(^ be from Port 

 Essington. 



In view of these facts, its occurrence off Cape York in the 

 winter would not be surprising, though it has never yet been re- 

 corded from the North Pacific. 



Fregetta tropica. Black-bellied Storm-Petrel. — There is a 

 mounted specimen of this species in the Queensland Museum 

 labelled S.E. Queensland. Unfortunately no particulars as to 

 its cai)ture are available, and it is possible that the label is in- 

 tended to indicate its probable distribution within the State, not 

 that it was obtained in that region. Only two specimens are 

 on record as having been captured in Australian waters, though 

 both Gould and Giglioli record seeing them in the seas south 

 of the continent. I had the pleasure of watching one for some 

 hours on June 24th, 1921, in the Indian Ocean in 34 deg. S. lat., 

 58 deg. E. long. It mostly kept very close over the waier near 

 the stern of the ship, rarely flapping its wings, but hopping along 

 over the surface with its wings spread out, gaining much of its 

 impetus from its feet, which struck the water simultaneously, 

 not alternately as commonly depicted in pictures of Storm- Pet- 

 rels. It was a long time before I satisfied myself that it had 

 a black stripe on the belly, as it rarely rose high enough to show 

 much of its breast, even from the comparatively low stern of 

 the cargo-boat on which I was travelling. The specimen in the 

 Queensland Museum agrees closely with the description of the 

 Australian specimen in the Macleay Museum given in Mathews' 

 and Iredale's Handbook, except that it has no white margins to 

 the feathers of the upper surface. The culmen measures 1 ! 

 mm., and the tarsus 42 mm. 



Pelagodroma marina. White-faced Storm-Petrel. — The 

 Queensland Museum has a specimen captured in Moreton Bay. 

 The previous most northerly record on the east coast appears 

 to have been the Tweed River, N.S.W. 



Puffinus assimilis. Gould Shearwater. — There is a specimen 

 in the Queensland Museum labelled S.E. Queensland. x\s in 

 the case of the specimen of Frc(/ctfa tropica, this may be meant 

 to indicate its supposed range, and as particulars of its capture 

 are wanting, it cannot be taken as evidence that the species 

 occurs in the seas of eastern Australia. 



Puffinus griseus. Sooty Shearwater. — Large numbers of dark 

 Shearwaters were seen off the coasts of northern New South 

 Wales, especially off the Solitary Islands, when travelling south 

 to Sydney on October 2nd, 1921. They were also seen out at 

 sea from the coast opposite the R.A.O.U. camp at Wallis Lake. 

 Two dead birds picked up on the beach at the latter locality- 

 seem to be referable to this species, and not to the very similar 



