ALLIED SHEARWATER. 



14. Puffinus assimilis. ALLIED SHEARWATER. 



[Puffinus assimilis Gould, Synops. Birds Austr., pt. iv., App., p. 7, April 1st, 1838: "New 

 South Wales " = Norfolk Island. Extra-limital.] 



Gould, Vol. VII., pi. 59 (pt. xxxv.), Dec. 1st, 1848. Mathews, Vol. II., pt. 1, pi. 73, May 

 30th, 1912. 



Puffinus assimilis tunneyi Mathews, Birds Austr., Vol. II., pt. 1, p. 71, pi. 73, May 30th, 

 19l2 : Boxer Island, South-west Australia. 



DISTRIBUTION. South-west Australian Seas. 



Adult male. General colour above bluish -black, including the head, back, 

 wings and tail, the feathers having white or dusky bases ; entire under-surface white, 

 including the under wing-coverts and under tail-coverts ; axillaries white, with ash- 

 brown subterminal spots to some of the feathers ; maxilla black, mandible blue ; 

 iris dark brown, feet blue, webs yellow. Total length 304 mm. ; culmen (exp.) 

 26, wing 180, tail 68, tarsus 37. 



Adult female. Similar to the adult male. Total length 294 mm. ; culmen 

 (exp.) 25, wing 175, tail 66, tarsus 36. 



Immature. As in adult but with white edges to longer wing-coverts and 

 secondaries. 



Nestling. Covered with down, ashy -grey above, paler below. 



Nest. Usually at the end of a burrow, the length of which varies from one to 

 three feet ; sometimes under a ledge. 



Egg. Clutch, one ; surface smooth, pure white ; axis 48-51 mm., diameter 34-37, 



Breeding -season. July . 



Distribution and forms. Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans. Exact range 

 unknown owing to interrelationship with P. Iherminieri Lesson being in dispute. 

 Mathews in 1912 indicated eight subspecies, and no emendation of consequence has 

 since been made ; thus, P. a. assimilis Gould from Norfolk Island and Kermadec 

 Group (Mathews has since named P. a. howensis from Lord Howe Island, as being 

 darker above and with a shorter bill) ; P. a. gavia (Forster) from New Zealand, 

 as being larger and with the upper part of the lores blue, wing av. 190 mm. ; 

 P. a. kempi Mathews, from the Chatham Islands, in their heavier bills, shorter 

 wings, lighter coloration especially on mantle and head, grey splashed axillaries 

 and longer tarsi ; P. a. tunneyi Mathews, from West Australia, in being slightly 

 smaller and paler than the typical race, and with more white on the fore-head, and 

 much paler young ; P. a. munda Salvin (ex Solander MS.) for a South Pacific Ocean 

 form with a heavy bill, breeding place unknown ; P. a. subsp. indet. for Reunion 

 specimens ; P. a. elegans Giglioli and Salvadori from the South Atlantic Ocean, 

 as being very pale birds like P. a. kempi, but with longer wings and tarsi, and P. a. 

 baroli Bonaparte from Madeira, Canaries and Azores ? ; these are darker than the 

 preceding with white lores, thinner bills, longer lateral under tail-coverts slate and 

 small size. 



[Genus CALONECTRIS. 



Calonectris Mathews and Iredale, Ibis, 1915, pp. 590-2, July 2nd. Type (by original desig- 

 nation) : Puffinus leucomelas Temminck and Laugier. 



Large Puffinine birds with long stout bills, long wings, medium rounded tail 

 and strong legs and feet. The bill has the unguis strongly hooked of both mandibles, 

 the nostrils short and elevated, the apertures facing forwards and only diagonally 

 seen from above. Compared with Hemipuffinus, the bill is much longer. The 

 wing is long and the first primary is longest, the secondaries fairly long for the 

 family. The tail is roundly wedge shaped, not quite half the length of the wing. 

 The legs and feet are diagnostic, the tarsus showing much less lateral compression 



