-V*"". 



„ a a. J 



113 



Count Salvadori (' Ibis,' 1900, vol. vi., p. 302) says : — 



This species is confined to the southern seas, especially the Southern Atlantic and Southern Indian 

 Oceans, between the 20th and the 50th parallels ; the most western point where it has been found being 

 Nightingale Island, near Tristan d'Acunha. In the Indian Ocean it probably lives round Kerguelen Island ; 

 by Gould it is mentioned from the seas off the eastern end of St. Paul and Amsterdam Islands ; in the British 

 Museum there is one specimen from North-west Australia and others (doubtfully) from South Australia. 

 Prof. G-iglioli, during the voyage of the ' Magenta,' met with this species between latitudes 42° 47' and 

 40° 42' S. and longitudes 3° 26 7 and 53° 20' E., and again in the South Australian seas from lat. 37° 22' S., 

 long. 112° 5' E., nearly to the entrance of Port Phillip. 



The presence of <E. mollis in the seas north of New Zealand is open to doubt, and I should say that the 

 specimens from New Caledonia — where, according to Layard, (E . mollis breeds on Mount Mon — also require 

 comparison. 



But as the Novara Expedition (according to Dr. Finsch) collected specimens in lat. 35° S., 

 long. 175° 5' E., this species is entitled to a place in the New Zealand list. 



Order PROCELLAEIIFOEMES.l 



[Family PUFEINIDiE. 



GESTRELATA NIGRIPENNIS. 



(ROTHSCHILD'S PETREL.) 



(Estrelata nigripennis, Rothschild, Ibis, vol. v., 1893, p. 573. 



A new species discovered by Mr. Salvin in the beautiful collection of Petrels at Tring, and named 

 as above by Mr. Walter Rothschild, conies from the Kermadec Islands. He writes : " This species 

 belongs to the (E. coohi (Gray) section of the genus (Estrelata, of which (E.defilijpjpiana is also a 

 member. It differs from all its congeners in having a short, stout, wide bill, and in the almost 

 total absence of white on the inner webs of the outer primary beneath ; the under wing-coverts, 

 with the exception of a rather wide margin, being white, as well as the axillary feathers." 



Professor Hutton was mistaken in the following reference to me in a communication to the 

 Zoological Society (' Proc. Zool. Soc, 1893,' p. 750), of which he kindly sent me a copy : " (Estre- 

 lata nigripennis, Rothschild (1893) =(E. coohi, Cheeseman (fide Buller), ' Transactions of the New 

 Zealand Institute,' vol. xxiii., p. 224; not of Gray." I am not aware that I ever saw Mr. Cheese- 

 man's specimen ; and there is certainly no warrant for such a statement in that gentleman's paper 

 (op. cit) on the Kermadec Petrels. 



Of this form of Petrel Captain Hutton writes : — 



I have to thank Mr. Salvin for this determination. Five specimens, all alike, from Kermadec and Curtis 

 Islands. Length 12 inches, wing 9"1, tail 4-5, bill 0'9, tarsus l'l, mid toe 1-2. 



In New Zealand this species has been confounded with (E. coohi, from which it differs much in the 

 stoutness of the bill and in the colours of the feet, as well as in the plumage. From (E. leucoptera it differs in 

 being lighter in colour and in the outer tail-feathers, having the inner web white at the base and speckled with 

 grey at the tip. 



The species is not uncommon during the summer months, arriving about the beginning of 

 November and leaving again at the end of April. It breeds on Meyer Island, and, more sparingly, 

 on Sunday Island, generally in company with P. assimilis. According to Mr. Cheeseman, it con- 

 structs a burrow sometimes over a yard in length, depositing a single pure white egg at the extremity. 



15 



