H 



ut a - • 



157 



have entirely disappeared. This sudden absence, although the conditions of weather and sea remain the 

 same, seems to prove the theory which I have previously advanced, that flocks of different species feed over 

 certain tracts of the ocean, the particular areas being no doubt in great measure determined by the food- 

 supply. 



2nd March.— Lat. 48° 35' S., long. 111° 26' E. A white-marked Sooty Albatros is with us still. We 

 first saw it on the 29th, and we have ever since been steaming at the rate of fourteen knots an hour. At 

 5 p.m. the rare Thalassceca antarctica paid us a visit, and made three circuits at a moderate distance from the 

 ship. It is a beautiful object on the wing, and has a very graceful flight. Saw what appeared on the wing to 

 be a pair of Puffinus bulleri* They carry their long pointed wings in a bow shape, and make rapid sweeps in 

 the air, crossing always in front of the ship. 



Order LAEIFOEMES.l 



[Family LAEIDiE. 



HYDE CHE LI DON LEU COPTER A. 



(WHITE-WINGED BLACK TEEN.) 



Hydrochelidon leucoptera (Schinz.), Buller, Birds of New Zealand, vol. ii., p. 77. 



Me. Howaed Saundees states (P.Z.S., 1876, p. 642) that this species has been obtained in 

 Australia and New Zealand, but he does not give any localities. With the exception of the 

 single example mentioned in the ' Birds of New Zealand' (vol. ii. p. 77), I have never heard of 

 this bird being seen on our coasts. 



HEIIOPROGNE CAS PI A. 



(CASPIAN TEEN.) 



Sterna caspia (Pallas), Buller, Birds of New Zealand, vol. ii., p. 73. 



I have nothing to add to the full history I have given of this species. 



I met with it on the Island of Wakaya, in the Fiji group, and again at the entrance to Suva 

 harbour. 



* Puffinus bulleri, Salvia. The proper range of this species has not yet been ascertained or denned. The type, 

 now in the Eothschild collection, was picked up by me on the Waikanae coast many years ago. Another specimen 

 (the type of Puffinus zealandicus, Sandager), now in my possession, was taken at Mokohinu Island, in the Hauraki 

 Gulf, having dashed itself against the lighthouse at night ; and the only other known specimen, now in the British 

 Museum, was obtained from a dealer, labelled " from New Zealand seas." These may therefore be only stragglers out 

 of the ordinary range of the species. 



