Petrels of the Kermadec Group. 431 



the grey of the head and neck was mixed with white, but still 

 with greyish throats, were common, but the birds in which 

 the grey had almost vanished were infrequent. Every com- 

 bination of coloration was noted and, at whatever elevation 

 the birds were found the variation was the same. Sometimes 

 the lightest birds would seem to be the most numerous, but 

 then a number of dark ones would turn up. When sitting, 

 the length of the wings was noticeably variable : in some 

 birds the folded wings would extend beyond the tail, whilst 

 in others they would not reach to the end of the tail. But 

 upon measurement the wings of the birds were seen to be of 

 the same length. This is noted, as Hutton used this cha- 

 racter as seen in dried skins to separate some of his forms. 



I have used, to designate the coloration of these birds, the 

 comparatives light and dark only : owing to the wonderful 

 range of coloration it was difficult to assign many of these 

 birds to even these main divisions. The dark birds varied 

 among themselves quite as much as the light ones : two very 

 dark birds have been noted sitting together, when the con- 

 trast of colours was clearly observed. The general appearance 

 of the newly settled birds was such that black and grey 

 would be used to describe them, but brown was also com- 

 monly present. At the end of the breeding season russet 

 was abundant in the old birds, the young showing more 

 black and grey : this suggested that the brown birds would 

 moult black or grey, but probably all do not. A newly 

 settled bird was seen on October 18 whose scheme of 

 coloration was decidedly reddish brown. The head and 

 breast were light grey with a delightful russet sheen, which 

 was vivid on the brown back and wings. Later, other newly 

 settled birds with a reddish-brown scheme were not unusual. 

 The tabulation of the observations made on the three days^ 

 tour give the following results : — 



Birds examined 261 



Light head and throat, white belly, light legs . . 52 

 Dark head and throat, white belly, light legs . . 64 

 Dark head and throat, dark belly, light legs . . 23 

 Dark head and throat, dark belly, daik le^s. ... 41 



2g 2 



