49 



The length in inches of the entire culmen of the cf from Fer- 

 nando Noronha is only 1.8 as against "2.1" for the type specimen 

 of Gygis crawfordi from Trinidad Islet. 



In one 9 of the Fernando Noronha birds the shafts of the pri- 

 maries are white; the other two birds have the shafts marked with 

 brownish pigment. 



It is interesting to note that this white-feathered bird has a 

 heavily pigmented, coal-black skin, whereas the skin of the black 

 tern, Micranous, is white in every part. The dermal melanin of 

 Gygis doubtless bears the same relation to the absorption of ex- 

 ternal heat, or the prevention of radiation of bodily heat, as the 

 black plumage of Micranous. 



12. Zenaida auriculata (Temm.). Zenaida noronha, Gray, 

 List B. Brit. Mus., 1856, Columbse, p. 47. Zenaida macidata, 

 Sharpe, Proc. Linn. Soc. (Zool.) XX, 1890, p. 479. Zenaida auri- 

 culata, Salvadori, Cat. B., XXI, p. 384. Peristera geoffroyi, Mosely, 

 Notes by a Naturalist, p. 71. 



This species is the most abundant land bird at Fernando Nor- 

 onha. According to Moseley the doves sometimes breed on the 

 ledges with Boobies and Noddies, the nests being intermingled 

 with those of the seabirds. 



Of three specimens collected a c? and a 9 were breeding. 



These figures confirm the statements of Sharpe, 1. c, and of 

 Salvadori, Cat. B., XXI, p. 386, that the dimensions of Fernando 



