506 Correspondence. (July 



bade him to publish anything. He overcame that obstacle in a small 

 degree by the publication of a book entitled 'Voyage round the World' 

 which was issued under his son's name. A preface by the son tells of the 

 "ill treatment" of the father by the powers that were. 



Casually making notes of the birds met with on the voyage, G. Forster, 

 in Vol. I, p. 91, 1777, mentioned "Blue Petrel, so called from its having a 

 bluish gray color, and a band of blackish feathers across the whole wing." 

 On p. 98, when Blue Petrels were again mentioned, a footnote (perhaps 

 by J. R.) gives a Latin equivalent, Procellaria vitlata. I concluded "the 

 name cannot be accepted as of this introduction, as it is indeterminable." 



Had Mr. Oberholser consulted Forster 's work he might have found a 

 stronger claim to the name on p. 153 when about Dusky Sound, New 

 Zealand, in April, 1773, Forster wrote: "Here they found an immense 

 number of petrels of the bluish species, common over the whole southern 

 ocean,* some being on the wing, and others in the woods. . . . They 

 have a broad bill, and a blackish stripe across their bluish wings and 

 body, and are not so large as the common shear-water or mank's petrel 

 of our seas." Mr. Oberholser concluded "there is, no doubt at all" what 

 Forster called vitlata, and this paragraph would suggest that he was right, 

 but that the bird so called was not the one Mr. Oberholser decided. The 

 broad bill mentioned is diagnostic of Prion, and is not seen in Halobaena. 

 The two birds are similar with peculiar diagnostic and easily observed 

 characters, the Prion having a broad bill and dark tips to its wedge-tail, 

 the Halobaena having a narrow bill and white tips to its square tail. Con- 

 sequently no general description could be valid unless the peculiar features 

 were mentioned. 



Why Mr. Oberholser ignored the detailed account given in Cook's 

 account of the same voyage which I quoted in full, I cannot say, as there 

 the matter was so clearly stated that no reader should misunderstand it. 

 I may recapitulate shortly. Under date of October 16, 1772, Cook logged 

 "were now accompanied . . . and small grey petrel less than a 

 pigeon. It has a whitish belly, and grey back, with a black stroke across 

 from the tip of one wing to the tip of the other. These birds sometimes 

 visited us in great flights. They are southern birds; and are, I believe, 

 never seen within the tropics, or north of the Line." On December 23, 

 1772, Cook reported "Mr. Forster, who went in the boat, shot some of 

 the small grey birds before mentioned, which were of the petrel tribe, 

 and about the size of a small pigeon. Their back, and upper side of their 

 wings, their feet and bills, are of a blue grey color. Their bellies, and 

 under sides of their wings, are white, a little tinged with blue. The upper 

 side of their quill feathers is a dark blue tinged with black. A streak 

 is formed by feathers nearly of this color, along the upper parts of the 

 wings, and crossing the back a little above the tail. The end of the tail 



See page 91. 



