20 A MANUAL OF THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 



12. Fregetta tropica. BLACK-BELLIED STORM-PETREL. 



[Thalassidroma tropica Gould, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., Vol. XIII., p. 366, May 1st, 1844 : 



Atlantic Ocean. Extra-limital.] 



Gould, Vol. VIL, pi. 62 (pt. xxvi.), March 1st, 1847. Mathews, Vol. II., pt. 1, pi. 71, May 



30th, 1912. 



Fregetta tropica australis Mathews, Austral Av. Bee., Vol. II., pt. 5, p. 86, Sept. 24th, 1914 : 



New Zealand. 



DISTRIBUTION. Australia (visitor). One specimen preserved in Macleay Museum, Sydney. 



Cf. Austral Av. Rec., Vol. III., pt. 4, p. 95, July 21st, 1917. 



Adult male. General colour above sooty-black, including the head and neck 

 all round, breast, back, wings, and tail ; the feathers of the back narrowly fringed 

 with white like the scapulars and median wing-coverts ; the feathers on the middle 

 of the abdomen and under tail-coverts sooty-black with white bases ; upper tail- 

 coverts and feathers on the sides of the rump pure white ; outer tail-feathers white 

 at the base ; sides of the body and the inner under wing-coverts white, as also the 

 axillaries ; small coverts round the margin of the under wing sooty-black ; bill 

 and feet black, iris brown. Total length 201 mm. ; culmen (exp.) 14, wing 164, 

 tail 76, tarsus 43. 



Adult female. Description of Australian specimen : " The skin shows slight 

 whitish tips to back feathers ; whitish bases to throat feathers show as an obscure 

 whitish patch ; the belly mark distinct but ill defined ; lower tail-coverts have 

 long black tips with white bases and extend to tip of tail ; there is a whitish patch 

 on the inner wing -co verts and a brownish outer wing-covert patch. Wing 146, 

 tail 69, tarsus 41, middle-toe 27, culmen 15 mm. Nostrils tending upward." 



Nest. In the crevice of a rock. 



Egg. Clutch, one ; dull white, minutely and sparingly dotted all over with 

 small pink dots ; axis 37 mm., diameter 27. (Kerguelen Island.) 



Distribution and forms. Not well known. Apparently Mid and South Atlantic 

 Ocean, Indian Ocean and New Zealand Seas. F. t. tropica (Gould) inhabits the 

 Atlantic Ocean ; F. t. melanogaster (Gould) from the South Indian Ocean has a 

 white spot on the throat and a mesial dark abdominal line ; F. t. australis Mathews, 

 from New Zealand seas, like the preceding as to coloration, but larger size and 

 longer legs. 



13. Fregetta tubulata. ALLIED STORM-PETREL. 



Not figured anywhere. 



Fregetta tubulata Mathews, Birds Austr., Vol. II., pt. 1, p. 42, May 30th, 1912, ex Gould MS. : 

 " Near the coast of Australia " = Locality unknown. 



DISTRIBUTION. Not known. One specimen preserved in the British Museum. 



" I have a small Petrel, presented to me by Mr. Denison, who killed it near the 

 coast of Australia on his passage to Sydney, in which the nostril tube is much more 

 lengthened than in any other species, and its apical portion turned upwards or 

 recurved, instead of being attached to the bill throughout its entire length as in the 

 other members of the genus. In the distribution of its colouring it is very nearly 

 allied to T. tropica and T. leucogaster, and it may be a mere variety of one or other 

 of those species ; but the bill, in addition to the feature pointed out above, is of a 

 more slender and attenuated form than is observable in any other." (Gould.) 



The bird itself is in the British Museum, where we have examined it. It has 

 the tube erect as there noted, the feathers of the throat have light bases, the upper 

 tail-coverts are white without black tips, the tail square, the under tail-coverts dark ; 

 there are stray dark markings on the belly. It disagrees with the preceding, however, 

 in having longer toes, not so much flattened, with the claws longer and more spatulate. 



