WITH ADDITIONS, TO THE AVIFAUNA OF THE ISLAND. 375 



places this species in the genus Proeellaria and gives 13i as size 

 of wing. My example is a thorough Puffinus; its length in the skin 

 is about 16 ; wing, 10'Q ; tail from vent, 5*2 ; tarsus, 1*85 ; mid 

 toe with claw, 2*2 ; inner toe with claw, 1*8 ; posterior nails, '15 ; 

 bill from gape to tip straight, 2 "05 ; the double-tubed nostrils are 

 - 3 from base of bill ; iris dusky brown ; legs and feet y ellowish 

 fleshy ; bill (in the dried skin) brown on culmen and tips ; sides of 

 upper mandible and base of lower fleshy ; head and above 

 uniform hair brown, darker on the scapulars and wing-coverts 

 than on the back ; tertials as the scapulars ; quills and tail black, 

 the inner edges of the former paler and the outer webs with an in- 

 conspicuous greyish frosting; beneath pale greyish brown ; the 

 throat lighter than the rest, and with a faint brownish ashy hue 

 in a strong light ; under tail-coverts concolorous with the upper 

 surface and very long, reaching to within '7 of the tip of the 

 central rectrices. 



976.— Thalassidroma ? (302.) 



I observed the species of Stormy Petrel, that has several times 

 been recorded on our coasts, on the 19th of August last, off 

 the port of Batticoloa. It was entirely dark brown with the 

 exception of a white rump, and is possibly Th. wilsoni, Bonap. 

 It was a still morning and the lonely little denizen of the ocean 

 wave was coursing backwards and forwards over the wake of our 

 steamer ! 



979.— Larus ichthysetus, Pallas. (303.) 



I learn of a pair of these Gulls having been shot at Jaffna last 

 cool season, and I have fragments of an example shot in Novem- 

 ber last by Surgeon Keith near Colombo. Layard mentions, 

 as Mr. Holdsworth observes in his catalogue, having seen 

 a pair at Pt. Pedro, and I myself have seen it in rough weather 

 on the west coast, but I do not know of any specimens having 

 been actually procured until now. The fragments I have of the 

 bird shot at Colombo testify to it's having been immature. The 

 head is white with a brown anti-orbital spot, the post-orbital region 

 and back of head being mingled with brown ; on the back and 

 scapulars many of the newly moulted bluish grey, brown centred 

 feathers are mixed with the faded or reddish brown plumage of 

 the first year ; the tail has a black apical band, 2*5 inch wide on 

 the central rectrices, and broader on the laterals, up the outer 

 webs of which it runs slightly ; the long feathers of the under 

 tail-coverts have a black subterminal bar diminishing to a small 

 spot on the lateral feathers. Length of bill, from gape straight 

 to tip, 3'7 ; height at angle of gonys, 0*72 ; the apical half is 

 brownish with a light tip and the base pale fleshy; tail 7*5. 



2 z 



