J.2 Alexander, Procellariiformes iv \Veslevii Australia. \^„^^^^f^\y 



of the Procellariiformes which had been recorded in various works 

 as occurring in Western Australia, and stated that I thought a 

 number of them must have been placed on the list hypothetically. 

 and not because of any actual specimen or definite record being 

 forthcoming. I there gave a list of the species of which there 

 were actual specimens in the Western Australian Museum, and 

 admitted also Daption capense and Diomedea exulans, though 

 stating that I considered these required confirmation. That con- 

 firmation has now been obtained by the observations of Dr. 

 Ferguson and myself, and we have both also recorded two species 

 which I then rejected — Thalassarche melanophrys and Phcehetria 

 fusca. Since I wrote that article I have discovered that in 

 Grey's " Travels in North- West and Western Australia," pub- 

 lished in 1841, there is an appendix containing a list of Western 

 Australian birds, prefaced by the statement that " the following 

 is an enumeration of the species which have come under the 

 notice of Mr. Gould as inhabiting the Western coast." Among 

 the " Natatores " are seven species of Procellariiformes — viz., 

 Diomedea exulans, D. melanophrys, D. chlororhynchiis, D. fuliginosa. 

 Procellaria gigantea, Puffimis brevicaudus, and P. chlororhynchus . 

 The only name in this list which calls for comment is Pitffimis 

 brevicaudus, which was at that time a nomen nudum, as no species 

 was described under this name until 1847, when the bircl was 

 figured and described in Gould's " Birds of Australia." Gould refers 

 to his own mention of the name in the Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., vol. 

 xiii., p. 365, 1844. On the same page as this second reference 

 to P. brevicaudiis there is a description of P. carneipes, a new 

 species from " the small islands of Cape Leeuwin." I think, 

 therefore, that in 1841 Gould was under the impression that the 

 Western Australian bird was the same as that from Bass Strait, 

 and that the reference to P. brevicaudus in the list should be taken 

 as referring to P. carneipes. 



In 1847, in his preface to " The Birds of Australia," Gould gave 

 a list of all the species, with crosses showing in which States thej' 

 were found, and in this list no less than 23 species of Procellarii- 

 formes are marked as occurring in Western Australia. As Gould 

 had not visited Australia in the interval, I think we must assume 

 that most of the 16 species which he then added to the list of 

 birds he had given six 3^ears previously were added for the 

 reasons I have already suggested, and not because he had received 

 spscimens from Western Australia. The subsequent authors to 

 whose lists I referred in my previous article evidently followed 

 Gould's lead. 



A PAIR of White-naped Honey-eaters {Melithreptus luntdatus) 

 have built a nest near the top of a eucalyptus tree in the flight 

 aviary in the Melbourne Zoo. The nest is about 30 feet from 

 the ground. The hen bird is now sitting on her eggs. — W. H. D. 

 Le Souef. Melbourne. 



