Order PBOCELLAEIIFOEMES.l 



[Family PEOCELLAEIID.E. 



(ESTRELATA INCERTA. 



(DOUBTFUL PETEEL.) 



(Estrelata incerta (Schlegel), Buller, Birds of New Zealand, yoI. ii., p. 220. 



The " Doubtful Petrel," having been finally accepted by Mr. Salvia, may now be regarded 

 as a valid species. But, apart from this fact, I fear I have nothing to add to its history, 

 no further New Zealand specimens having come to my knowledge. 



(ESTRELATA MOLLIS. 



(SOFT-PLUMAGED PETEEL.) 



(Estrelata mollis, Gould; Buller, Birds of New Zealand, vol. ii., p. 222. 



Of this species Mr. Cheeseman showed me at the Auckland Museum an interesting series of skins 

 from Sunday Island (Kermadec group). Two of them had the plumage entirely dark, showing 

 that this species, like many other sea-birds, exhibits a peculiar phase of dimorphism. This is 

 a subject about which we at present know very little, and it would be interesting to ascertain 

 whether the dark character of plumage becomes hereditary under favourable conditions — 

 that is to say, when dark birds pair together — or whether in such cases there is a latent 

 tendency to revert to the normal colouring. It would be instructive also to note the character of 

 the offspring when birds of the two phases mate together, as is often the case. 



In the Museum series there are two albinoes, both handsome birds, but one having the 

 plumage of a purer white than the other. 



Mr. Cheeseman kindly presented me with a specimen obtained by him on Sunday Island 

 during a semi-official visit in August, 1887. It was known to the settlers there as the " Mutton- 

 bird," and Mr. Cheeseman treated it as an undetermined species of Majaqueus. I have another 

 example in my collection, from Otago ; and if, as I believe, my birds are male and female, 

 the sexes present no difference in plumage. 



This species was originally described by Mr. Gould in the ' Annals and Magazine of Natural 

 History ' (vol. xiii., p. 363) ; and in his account of it in ' The Birds of Australia ' he records 

 a very remarkable circumstance. " It is a species," he says, " that will ever live in my memory, 

 from its being the first large Petrel I saw after crossing the Line, and from a somewhat curious 

 incident that then occurred. The weather being too boisterous to admit of a boat being lowered, 

 I endeavoured to capture the bird with a hook and line ; and, the ordinary sea-hooks being 

 too large for the purpose, I was in the act of selecting one from my stock of salmon-flies, when a 

 sudden gust of wind blew my hooks, and a piece of parchment 10 in. long by 6 in. wide, between 

 which they were placed, overboard into the sea, and I was obliged to give up the attempt for that 

 day. On the next I succeeded in capturing the bird with a hook I still had left, and the reader 

 may judge of my surprise when, on opening the stomach, I there found the piece of parchment, 

 softened by the action of the salt water and the animal juices to which it had been subjected, but 

 so completely uninjured that it was dried and again restored to its original use when a further 

 supply of flies could be procured." 



