CRITICAL NOTES. 79 
121. DIOMEDEA CULMINATA. 
A specimen of this bird is in the Canterbury Museum. It is in the 
immature plumage, with the head and neck grey. 
125 PROCELLARIA GAVIA. 
This bird has not, up to the present, been identified with any known 
petrel ; but Dr. Coues and other authors have all agreed in referring it 
to the genus sitrelata, and in placing it next to P. Cookt. That this is 
an error, and that the bird is really identical with Puffinus opistholemas, 
Coues, I think I shall be able to show. 
The following is Forster’s description, as quoted by Dr. Coues: 
P. supra cerulescente-nigra, subtus candida, palato et lingua villis defleais, 
pedibus pallide fuscus, * * corpus magnitudine circiter, P. vittate. 
Habitat at Gstuarium Regina Charlotte, gregaria. Expanse of wings, 
26in. ; bill, 1Jm. (Gray says 2 to the gape), tail 24in. and tibiee 1?in. 
The locality, Queen Charlotte’s Sound, and the gregarious habit, are 
quite enough to shew that the bird does not belong to the genus Wstrelata, 
which is composed of the wildest and most solitary of petrels, that rarely 
even approach a ship, and never enter a sound or harbour. The only 
gregarious petrels belong to the genera Daption, Prion, Puffinus, and 
Halodroma. That Forster’s bird could belong either to the first or the 
last, is, of course, out of the question, and all the Prions have the upper 
surface delicate ash blue, and by no means bluish black. We are, there-. 
fore, compelled to fall back upon Puffinus, which alone answers all the 
requirements of color and habit ; and as we have in New Zealand only 
one bi-colored species of Puffinus (P. opisthomelas), which also is not 
uncommon in Queen Charlotte’s Sound, there is every reason to suppose 
that this must be the bird meant by Forster, and when we compare 
the measurements of the two, that supposition becomes, I think, a cer- 
tainty. 
Expanse. Bill. Tail. Tarsus. Tibia. 
Procellaria gavia DU toa oe 2° lie 
Puffinus opisthemelas 26 ... 1:75 ... 2:75-3:25 ... 15 ... 2°25 
The only material discrepancy is in the length of the tibia, and here, 
I think some mistake must have been made, and tibia substituted for 
twrsus ; for I know of no petrel, of the size indicated by an expanse of 
26 inches, that has so short a tibia. I may also mention that in the 
genus Zstrelata the tarsi are too short, and the tail is too long, to answer 
to Forster’s description. 
