OCEANODROMA TRISTRAMI. 



1903, from Okinose, in the Sagami Sea, and lent me by Count von Berlepsch. 

 Large in size, and dark in colour, it measures as follows : — Total length, 9.5 inches ; 

 culmen, 0.7; wing, 7.2; tarsus, 1.1; middle toe and claw, 1.15. The British 

 Museum possesses another specimen, procured by Mr. Owston on the 19th of 

 June, 1899, from the Uraga Channel, and identified by him as 0. tristrami. It is not 

 so dark as the Okinose example, and has a distinct plumbeous shade on the upper- 

 surface, with faintly indicated whitish margins on the edges of the scapulars. These 

 margins are, doubtless, signs of immaturity. The measurements are : — Total length, 

 8.75 inches ; wing (worn), 6.85 ; tail, 3.3 ; tarsus, 1.1 ; middle toe and claw, 1.15. 



Although this specimen of 0. tristrami is a little smaller than the so-called 0. 

 fuliginosa of Count von Berlepsch' s collection, I believe the two birds to belong to 

 one and the same species, the variation in measurements not being greater than is 

 customary ha the Storm-Petrels. 



The Sendai Bay specimen, which was the type of 0. tristrami of Stejneger, appears 

 to have unfortunately been lost. At the time of the purchase of Canon Tristram's 

 collection by the Liverpool Museum it was missing, and Dr. H. 0. Forbes informs me that 

 it was marked in Tristram's Catalogue as one of the species which he had lent, and would 

 send to the Liverpool Museum in due course, but the specimen has never reached its 

 destination. In 1896, when Salvia wrote the account of the Tubinares for the "Catalogue 

 of Birds," the type of 0. tristrami was still in America, as Mr. Ridgway sent him a 

 detailed description of the specimen for publication in that volume (cf. Cat. Birds Brit. 

 Mus., XXV., p. 354). 



Dr. Stejneger, to whom I wrote on the subject, kindly informs me that the type 

 was returned to Canon Tristram immediately after description, and it would seem, 

 therefore, to have been lost on the way. Salvin was, in consequence, unable to figure 

 the specimen for his proposed monograph ; and in writing my account of the species, 

 I have been at a disadvantage in not having the actual type of 0. tristrami before me, 

 though there can be no doubt that the specimen from the Uraga Channel in the 

 British Museum is identical with the bird described by Dr. Stejneger. 



The original " Sooty Petrel " came from Otaheite, and was in the collection of Sir 

 Joseph Banks. The type-specimen has, unfortunately, not survived, and thus we have 

 only Latham's description to go upon, which reads as follows: — "Length, 11 inches; 

 bill black, one inch long, and hooked at the tip ; irides pale ash-colour ; head and neck 

 of a sooty black ; the body in general tinged with brown, not unlike the colour of the 

 Swift. The rump is brown ; the under part of the body much like the upper, but 

 paler ; the ridge of the wing mixed with ash-colour ; the tail is somewhat forked in 

 shape, but the feathers themselves are square at the ends — their colour, and that of 

 the quills, a deep black ; the wings when closed exceed the tail a trifle in length. Legs 

 slender, an inch long and black. Inhabits Otaheite. In the collection of Sir Joseph 

 Banks." Then follows a footnote :— " In a drawing in the possession of the same, 



21 



