NOTES ON BIRDS FROM EASTHR ISLAND 33 



Pterodroma (Aestrelata) heraldica paschae n. subsp. 

 Native name: Taiho. 

 Motii Nui: I cT, 2 ??, I pull. 2% 1917. 



Length of wing of male 275, of females 264 — 265 mm. Culmen 27,7 mm. 

 in male, 26 — 28 in females. 



With regard to the general appearance these specimens are most similar 

 to heraldica from the southwestern Pacific. The male may be described in the 

 following way: General colour above brownish black, more intensely, some- 

 what slaty black on the lower back, the smaller wing-coverts and scapulars. 

 The bases of the feathers are white, and if the plumage happens to be in 

 disorder the white may shine through on the upper neck and nape. The fore- 

 head is mottled by means of white margins to the dark slate grey feathers. 

 On the lores and cheeks the white is dominating, so that the grey centres only 

 take the shape of small spots. The ear-coverts are dark slaty grey, but the 

 white shines through more or less. The greatest wing-coverts and the secon- 

 daries have a shade of slaty grey, partly with blackish vermiculations as in 

 arminjoniana. The primary coverts are black like the small coverts and the 

 primaries. The latter have on thfe inner web » white wedges», which, however, 

 are not pure white except in their proximal parts and gradually become more 

 and more shaded with ashy, so that they are not so sharply defined at the end, 

 about one third of the length of the quill from the tip. In the females (which 

 may be somewhat younger birds) these »wedges» are still less conspicuous and 

 shorter. The secondaries are white on the inner web towards the base. The 

 long tail-coverts are white for somewhat less than the basal half, then black 

 with a shade of slaty which ceases some distance from the tip. The tail- 

 feathers are black with some white basally, chiefly on the inner web. The 

 throat is pure white like the lower surface of the body generally, but across 

 the fore-neck and sides of neck is a broad band of grey. In front this is 

 effected by the tips of the feathers being narrowly banded by grey, but the 

 extreme fringes again whitish. The sides of the body are somewhat mottled 

 with dusky which sometimes takes the shape of narrow bars. The under tail- 

 coverts are dark slate grey, basally white (sometimes for about half their length) 

 and narrowly fringed with white at the extreme tip. Under wing-coverts black 

 with greyish edges. The greatest series is grey with the concealed parts white. 

 Axillaries blackish. 



Tarsi and proximal joint of toes with the included web yellow (in skin) 

 except the outer toe which appears to be black for its entire length as are the 

 outer joints of the other toes with their web. Bill black. 



As this description shows, this bird resembles the true heraldica very 

 closely. The most apparent difference is that the latter has the under tail- 

 coverts white, only »with black bars near the ends of the feathers*, while the 

 same coverts in the specimens from Easter Island are chiefly dark. The latter 

 have perhaps also less white on the primaries and a different pattern of the 

 black on the feet. These small differences together with the different habitat 



