Vol. XVII. 



] Alexander, Procellariiformes in Western Australia. ztl 



Phcebetria fusca was seen at intervals. On i6th July Da-ption 

 capeiise made its appearance, but by this time we were too far 

 from the Western Australian coast to be able to count this as a 

 Western Australian record. On the following day I saw a pair 

 of black Petrels, which I think must have been Procellaria 

 parkinsoni ; but, though I watched them for a long time, they 

 did not come very near the ship, and it is possible that they may 

 have been P. conspiciUata, and that the distance was too great 

 for me to distinguish the white markings on the head. 



The foregoing observations would hardly be worth recording 

 except that they coincide so closely with Dr. Ferguson's notes 

 in The Emu (vol. xv., p. 261), founded on observations made by 

 him in January and August. They thus serve to strengthen the 

 view maintained by Mr. G. M. Mathews that the birds of this 

 order are not great wanderers, as has been generally supposed, 

 but that most of the species, at any rate, occur in definite areas 

 quite as sharply defined as those occupied by land-birds. 



This is most strikingly exemplified by the Yellow-nosed 

 Albatross {Nealbatrns chlororhynchiis), which is evidently the 

 common form on the west coast from the Leeuwin to north of 

 Perth, a single straggler (the type of Diomedea carteri) having 

 been obtained as far north as Point Cloates. Eastward of the 

 Leeuwin, on the south coast, its numbers decrease very rapidly, 

 and it has not yet been noted as far east as Albany. On this part 

 of the coast it is replaced by the Black-browed Albatross 

 [Thalassarche melanophrys), which extends from the Leeuwin 

 eastwards along the coast and right across the Bight. 



The Mutton-Birds appear to furnish a similar instance, as the 

 Wedge-tailed Petrel {Thyellodroma pacifica) ranges from North- 

 West Australia down to the islands of^ Fremantle, whilst the 

 Fleshy-footed Petrel {Hemipuffinus carneipes) is found along the 

 south coast as noted above, and my record at the beginning of 

 this paper shows that it straggles far enough north to overlap 

 the range of the other species. 



If other travellers will record their observations in The Etmi 

 we may be able to map out the distribution of some of the other 

 species.* 



In a previous article {The Emu, vol. xv., p. 182) I gave a list 



* Since writing the foregoing I have crossed the Bight between Adelaide and 

 Fremantle twice more — at the beginning of April and in the middle of May, 1917. 

 On both occasions Diotnedea exttlans was observed right across the Bight, but at the 

 latter date it was much more numerous, and was seen also off the south coast of 

 Western Australia. On the former trip Thalassarche fnelanophrys was seen off the 

 coast of South Australia and the south coast of Western Australia, but not on the 

 voyage across the Bight ; on the latter it was very plentiful right across the Bight. 

 On the earlier voyage llialassogeron chloror hynchits was seen between Albany and 

 Cape Leeuwin ; on the later one only one bird was seen, close to Port Adelaide. 

 Phcebetria fusca was seen across the Bight on both voyages, but was much more 

 plentiful on the later one, whilst on the latter Phcebetria palpebrata was also met with, 

 one being seen in the western part of the Bight and several in the eastern part. No 

 Cape Pigeons [Daption capense) were seen in April, but one was observed in the 

 western part of the Bight on 19th May. — W. B. A. 



