22 A MANUAL OF THE BIEDS OF AUSTRALIA. 



are superficially similar but appear more distantly related when their nestlings are 

 examined. The Prions are a peculiar little series, which may be nearly related to 

 the Fulmars but which certainly are clearly differentiated now ; while the Giant 

 Petrel is a giant relation of the Fulmars showing, in the adult state, the immature 

 bill formation of the Fulmar, but of course much exaggerated on account of its huge 

 size, and it has added feathers to its tail, these numbering sixteen, Fulmars generally 

 having twelve to fourteen, Shearwaters only twelve. The bill of the Shearwaters 

 is generally long and narrow, the nasal apertures tending to open upwards, the 

 body long and slender, the feet placed far backward ; the bill of the Fulmars is 

 shorter and stouter, the nasal apertures facing forward, the body stouter ; the 

 internal edges of the upper mandible sometimes producing lamellae. The Prions 

 are smaller forms with the bill varying from narrow to very broad, slender to very 

 stout, lamellae produced on the internal edges of the upper mandible to the greatest 

 extent or insignificant, with a distensible interramal pouch or no trace of such, thete 

 alterations taking place while the size, coloration and other structural features 

 remain constant. All these are sub-antarctic in distribution, the Fulmars and 

 Shearwaters generally southern, but a few species ranging and breeding in the northern 

 temperate regions. Nearly every species of Fulmarine form has been generically 

 separated, while those of Puffinine alliance have been lumped. We have shown that 

 a constant supergeneric featuie is seen in the parti -coloration of the feet of these 

 two groups, the structure of the feet being comparatively similar. The feet of the 

 Prions are structurally a little different, while those of the Giant Petrel again differ 

 in shape, approaching those of the Albatrosses in size but differing in the presence of 

 a large hind claw, the toe being obsolete ; this species is also restricted to the Sub- 

 antarctic and Antarctic regions. 



Genus PUFFINUS. 



Puffinus Brisson, Ornith., Vol. VI., p. 130, 1760. Type (by tautonymy) : Puffinus = Pro- 

 cellaria puffinus Briinnich. 



Nectris Kuhl, Beitr. Vergl. Anat., p. 146, 1820 (pref. April 9th). Type (by subsequent desig- 

 nation. Mathews, Birds Austr., Vol. II., p. 46, 1912) : Procellaria puffinus Briinnich. 

 Thyettas Gloger, in Froriep's Notizen, Vol. XVI., p. 279, 1827 (May). New name for Puffinus 

 Brisson. 



Rhipornis Billberg, Synops. Faume Scand., Vol. I., Tab. A, 1828. New name for Puffinus 

 Brisson (c/. Austral Av. Rec., Vol. II., pts. 2 and 3, p. 42, Oct. 23rd, 1913). 

 Cymotom-us Macgillivray, Man. Brit. Ornith., Vol. II., p. 13, May 28th, 1842. Type (by 

 monotypy) : Procellaria puffinus Briinnich. 



Alphapuffinus Mathews, Austral Av. Rec., Vol. II., pt. 5, p. 110, Sept. 24th, 1914. Type 

 (by original designation) : Puffinus assimilis Gould. 



Small Puffinine birds with long slender bills, long wings, short tail and small 

 legs and feet. The bill is long and narrow with the unguis hooked ; the nasal tubes 

 about one-third the length of the culmen very depressed ; the apertures wide apart, 

 separated by a thick septum, and oval in shape, opening nearly horizontally ; the 

 latericorns very slightly basally expanded ; the rami of the under mandible com- 

 paratively weak and little divergent, the unguis weak and decurved ; the very 

 narrow interramal space feathered. The wing is long with the first primary longest. 

 The tail is short and rounded, a little more than one-third the length of the wing. 

 The tarsus is short, not much more than half the length of the tail and less than one 

 and a half times the length of the culmen ; it is very laterally compressed, and 

 covered with reticulate scaling. The toes are long, the outer longest and the inner 

 shortest ; the middle toe, without its claw, exceeds the tarsus in length. The claws 

 are long and narrow, that of the middle toe the longest. The hind-toe is present 

 only as a small projection. 



Coloration dark above, white below. 



