90 Transactions. 



Daption capensis Linne. 

 Diomedea melanophrys Boie. 

 Phoebetria fuliginosa Gmelin. 



Under the above names Cbeeseman [loc. cit., p. 224) records having 

 observed petrels at sea in Kermadec waters. They were not noted by any 

 member of our party. 



Mathews (Birds Austr., vol. 2, 1912) has shown that the correct name 

 for the bird noted above as Diomedea melano'phrys Boie is Thalassarche 

 melanophris impavida Mathews ; whilst until specimens are procured we can 

 only guess at the identity of the last-named. The same author has care- 

 fully reviewed the literature, and by means of ample material has shown 

 that two distinct species have been confused under the name P. frdiginosa 

 Gmelin : that the correct name for one is P. palpebrata Forster, of which 

 P. fuliginosa Gmelin is an absolute synonym ; whilst the other must bear 

 the name P. fusca Hilsenberg. The New-Zealand-breeding races have been 

 named by Mathews Phoebetria palpebrata Imttoni and Phoebetria fusca canip- 

 belli. Which of these two occurs in Kermadec waters is problematical, the 

 probability being the latter. 



Sterna caspia Pallas. 



Two years ago I made the following comment in manuscript : " Cheese- 

 man (p. 2-21) included this bird on the authority of Mr. Bell as having been 

 noted. No use can be made of such records, as we are unable to judge 

 whether the bird seen (!) was referable to the New Zealand or Australian 

 subspecies, whilst it is only guesswork to have called it S. caspia at all ! " 



Oliver has now recorded Sterna bergii (p. 215), and has omitted S. caspia 

 altogether, though including doubtful records. It would therefore appear 

 that he has concluded that the record of S. caspia applies to his new record. 

 The nomenclature of the two species has been elaborated by Mathews 

 (Birds Austr., vol. 2, 1912), and the bird commonly known as S. caspia 

 must be called Hydroprogne tschegrava Lepechin, the Australian subspecies 

 being known as H. tschegrava strenuus Gould. S. bergii is referred to the 

 genus Thalasseus, and the races discussed, the north Australian race being 

 called Thalasseus bergii pelecanoides King, the south-east Australian Thalas- 

 seus bergii poliocercus Gould, and the Fijian form Thalasseus bergii recti- 

 rostris Peale. As the species does not occur in New Zealand, the straggler 

 procured must belong to one of these. 



Whilst on th.Q subject of terns, I might note that Oliver (p. 220) has 

 included as a visitor to Norfolk Island the New Zealand Sterna albistriata. 

 If this is based on the record in the Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. it would be better 

 expunged, as the specimen which I have carefully examined is in very im- 

 mature plumage, and it has no history ! I myself would not admit it, and 

 Mathews, in his " List of the Birds of the Phillipian Kegion " (Novit. Zool., 

 vol. 18, pp. 447-52, 1912), has rejected it without comment, as Saunders 

 himself did not believe in it. 



Anous stolidus Linne. 



At the end of his account of Anous cinereus Gould (p. 222) Cheeseman 

 noted it was probable that A. stolidus might also breed on the group. By 

 a misreading of what was written, BuUer included the species in the Supple 



