172 Murphy, Range of Leach's Petrel. [April 



Fernando Noronha). Fair, with light easterly winds. We passed 

 close enough to Roeas Reef so that the signal and buildings could 

 be seen from the masthead. One Oceanodroma, among the Ocea- 

 ii if <s, flew about our stern for a few minutes. 



April 19, 3° 15' S., 33° 40' W. Flat calm all day and well into 

 the night. I lowered the dory and collected a dozen petrels, three 

 of which were Oceanodroma leucorhoa. One of these had lost a leg 

 above the tarso-metatarsal joint, but it seemed to obtain its food 

 as well as the others. The "springy" flight again struck me as 

 quite distinctive. Unlike Wilson's Petrel the Leach's Petrels 

 settled frequently into the water, holding the tips of their wings 

 high while they swam. 



April 23, 1° 34' S., 34° 18' W. Calm; showers. One Oceano- 

 droma seen. 



May 4, 13° 16' N., 51° 34' W. (Due east of Barbados, W. I.) 

 Moderate trade winds. An Oceanodroma flew about us for a while 

 during the morning. I was enabled to watch it very closely, and 

 there can be no doubt whatever regarding the identification. The 

 record is particularly interesting, partly because the locality is 

 almost within the Lesser Antillean region, and also because the 

 date is about the beginning of the normal breeding season for this 

 species in the temperate North Atlantic. 



Notes on the Skins. 



All the specimens collected in the tropical Atlantic are indis- 

 tinguishable from birds taken at Grand Manan and elsewhere near 

 the North American breeding grounds. It is perhaps needless to 

 say that I have avoided a possible confusion with 0. castro. 



The sequence of the plumages is interesting. The specimen 

 taken on September 9, an adult female, is moulting its worn and 

 much faded feathers, a few new, gray scapularies and half-grown 

 rectrices contrasting strongly with the dingy brown of the adjacent 

 plumage. Two September 27 specimens have a completely new 

 garb with the exception of the three outermost primaries which 

 are frayed. The birds collected on April 19 have new quills, and 

 contour plumage which is nowhere greatly worn. 



