Il5 Royal Australasian Ornithologists' Union. [isf"Tan 



be found, probably, that the longitude of Tasmania is its occasional 

 western boundary. Puffin ns assimilis has been recorded from 

 such widely separated islands as Gough and Kermadec. The 

 Gough species will probably be found to disagree with our species 

 in so far as it will become a good sub-species. Procellaria pelagica, 

 the " Mother Carey Chicken " of the Northern Hemisphere, passes 

 into the extreme limit of Antarctic floating ice. If Puffinus kuhli 

 deflects from the same course eastward it might be that this 

 European bird occasionally does the same, touching our extreme 

 western waters. This is work for the fishermen-ornithologists 

 of Western Australia rather than those of Tasmania. The same 

 applies to Diomedea carteri, which is found off Gough Island, in 

 the South Atlantic, and North-Western Australia, and possibly, 

 between breeding seasons, directly west of Tasmania. 



Gistrelata solandri has been recorded from Bass Strait, but, as 

 there is a doubt of its specific value, it leaves some interesting 

 work to be done. While tracing the distribution its value as a 

 good species will be tested. GEstrelata lencoptera, recorded in the 

 " Official Check-list " as found in eastern Australia, has been 

 found just south of Tasmania. Prion vittattis and P. hanksi sep- 

 arately range into each other, but much field data are required. 



In Godman's "Monograph of the Petrels" no fewer than fifty- 

 nine species of Procellariiforines are recorded as found in 

 Antarctic waters. The most of these touch the Australian seas, 

 and a question is. How many ? We have fairly well fixed the 

 number in the more easily accessible rookeries ; but I think that, 

 with more careful identification, a number of others will reveal 

 their true selves. 



We should connect, with more certainty, New Zealand with 

 our continent by means of Macquarie Island. Long ago one of 

 our own members recorded * three genera — Puffinus griseus, 

 Priofinus cinereus, and Halohcena ccerulea — as ranging across from 

 New Zealand by nesting in the Macquaries ; but this was merely 

 a nucleus of our knowledge of the distribution of Australian 

 ocean-going birds. We have still to learn of those which range 

 between island and island, island and mainland, between main- 

 lands, endemic to islands or continents, Australia outwards in the 

 quarters of the compass, between northern and southern waters, 

 and east to west upon Australian shores as well as those adjacent. 



On the Pacific Ocean border of our continent there is a most 

 interesting series of species, ranging between Queensland and 

 Antarctica, New Guinea and New Zealand. 



So far in time very little attention has been given to the 

 numerical value of the species of sea-birds in their relation to 

 fishing grounds. It has been reported t that the eastern waters 

 of Flinders Island could give the most plentiful supply of fish in 

 south-eastern Australia ; and it is there that the great mass of the 



* " Nests and Eggs of Australian Birds," pp. 894-896 (Campbell), 

 t F. T. Endeavour research. 



