CLASSIFIED NOTES 553 



WILSON'S PETREL [Oceanites ocednicus (Kuhl). German, buutfursige Sturmschwalbe]. 



1. Description. Distinguished by the yellow on the webs of the feet. The sexes are alike 

 in coloration. Length 7 in. [17.S mm.]. General colour of the plumage of the whole body 

 smoky black ; upper tail-coverts white ; under tail-coverts laterally white, black in the middle ; 

 wings and tail black ; wing-coverts brownish ; a few of the median coverts marked with 

 greyish white, forming an indistinct band across the wing ; tail square ; iris dark brown ; bill 

 black ; legs and toes black ; basal half of the webs of the toes yellow, [w. p. p. and T. w.] 



2. Distribution. This is an Antarctic species, which breeds on Kerguelen, South Victoria 

 Land, the South Shetlands, and South Orkneys. After the breeding season it migrates 

 northward, and has been obtained about twelve times, since it was first reported in 1838, from 

 the British Isles ; the Canaries, Azores, and the coasts of Spain, France, and Sardinia on the 

 east of the Atlantic, and along the American coast to the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the 

 mouth of Hudson's Strait (Resolution Island). In the Pacific it has not been met with in 

 the north, but in the Indian Ocean has been recorded from the Mekran coast as well as in the 

 Australian seas. [K. c. K. J.] 



FRIGATE-PETREL [Pelagodroma marina (Latham)]. 



1. Description. Recognised by the white line on the forehead reaching from the bill to the 

 eye, and continued through the eye into n broad eyebrow stripe ; sides of the face greyish 

 black ; top of the head deep smoky brown ; mantle, rump, and secondary coverts smoky 

 brown ; longer upper tail-coverts grey ; basal half of tail grey, terminal half black ; primary 

 quills black above, greyish brown below ; under surface of body pure white ; wings very long, 

 reaching beyond the tail, which is but very slightly forked, [w. p. p. and T. w.] 



2. Distribution. Isolated colonies breed in the Australian and New Zealand seas as well 

 as in the Atlantic. The nearest nesting-places are on the Salvages, the Cape Verde group, and 

 Tristan d'Acunha. In the Australian seas it has been found breeding off Cape Leeuwin, the 

 Houtrnan's Abrolhos, Chatham Islands, etc. It occurs frequently on the Canaries, has been 

 obtained twice in Great Britain (Walney Island and Colonsay), and also on the coast of Massa- 

 chusetts. [F. c. R. j.] 



MEDITERRANEAN-SHEARWATER [Pu/inus kuhlii (Boie). French, puffin cendre 

 German, Kuhls Sturm- Taucher ; Italian, berta maggiore]. 



1. Description. Differs from the great-shearwater in having the side of the head and 

 neck mottled with dusky grey, and by having the flanks and middle of the abdomen 

 white. The sexes are alike in coloration, and there is no seasonal change of plumage. Length 

 about 20 in. [507 mm.]. Top of the head uniform greyish brown, shading into lighter 

 greyish brown, edged with greyish white on the back, wings, and rump ; tail dark brown ; 

 under surface of body, including the axillaries and under wing-coverts, white ; bill, feet, and 

 toes yellow, [w. p. p. and T. w.] 



2. Distribution. Breeds in the Mediterranean, and is replaced by an allied form on the 

 Atlantic isles (Canaries, Azores, Salvages, and Madeira), and apparently also by a third on the 

 east coast of North America. In the Mediterranean it is known to breed on the Balearic Isles, 

 Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily, Malta, Lampedusa, the Tunisian coast, Dalmatia, the Ionian Isles, the 

 Cyclades, Lemnos, Crete, etc. The Mediterranean form is mainly resident, but one was picked 

 up on the south coast of England in 1906. The Atlantic form ranges south to the Cape of Good 

 Hope, Kerguelen Island, etc. [F. c. R. J.] 



SOOTY-SHEARWATER [Pu/inus griaeus (Gmelin). Black-hagdon]. 



1. Description. Recognised by its almost uniform brown coloration. Length 17 in. 



