CYMODROMA MEL ANOG ASTER. 



In the folio edition of the " Birds of Australia " Gould says that specimens of G. 

 melanogaster were procured by Sir George Grey on his outward voyage to Australia. 

 " off Lagullas Bank," and deposited in the British Museum. In his later work, the 

 " Handbook of the Birds of Australia," he speaks of himself as having met with this 

 species on the 12th August, 1839, " when off Cape Lagullas, on my voyage to 

 Australia," etc. 



There is some mistake on Gould's part, for the only specimens presented by Sir 

 George Grey were two examples of C. grallaria, received by the Museum in July, 1843, 

 and registered as from " South Australia " (cf. Gray's List of Anseres, p. 161 (1844) ; 

 Salvia, Cat Birds Brit. Mus., XXV., p. 367). As most of the specimens presented by 

 Sir George Grey on this occasion were actually from South Australia, these two Petrels 

 were doubtless included under the same heading, and the original labels having been 

 destroyed, as was usual in those early days, the exact record has been lost. I have, 

 however, no doubt that these two specimens from " South Australia " are the actual 

 pair which Gould avers to have been captured by Sir George Grey off the Agulhas 

 Bank, and which are really G. grallaria, and not C. melanogaster. 



Dr. Bowdler Sharpe, recognising that C. tropica of Gould was the same as G. 

 melanogaster, proposed to substitute for this latter name that of G. tropica, as it has 

 priority of a page in the volume of the "Annals." Salvin did not adopt this view, and Dr. 

 Sharpe tells me that he would now oppose such a change, as the name of melanogaster is 

 so widely known and so clearly determined, whereas the name of C. tropica carries a 

 certain amount of doubt with it, and has no practical priority, being published at the 

 same time, and in the same number of the " Annals " as G. melanogaster. Concerning 

 the latter name there is no question, and Dr. Sharpe himself has adopted it for the species 

 in the " Report " on the " Southern Cross " collections. 



The Black-bellied Storm-Petrel is an inhabitant of the southern area of the globe, 

 and ranges from the seas of New Zealand and Australia to the Indian and Atlantic Oceans, 

 while it also occurs off the coasts of South America, breeding in South Georgia and the 

 South Orkney Islands. 



Gould says that this Storm-Petrel was very abundant in the South Pacific and 

 Indian Oceans, particularly off the islands of St. Paul and Amsterdam. He also met 

 with it midway between these islands and Van Diemen's Land (Ann. and Mag. Nat. 

 Hist., XIIL, p. 367, 1844). 



During the voyage of the " Southern Cross," the late Nikolai Hanson obtained a pair 

 of these birds in Lat. 42° 23' S., Long. 20° 32' E. He says that the species was 

 noticed on the 30th December, when the " Southern Cross " reached the ice pack, but 

 it left the ship before they entered the ice (Sharpe, Rep. Coll. " Southern Cross," p. 142). 



Dr. Edward Wilson states that the species was constantly seen in the South 

 Atlantic, during the voyage of the " Discovery," throughout September and October. 

 Again, on 20th October they were exceptionally plentiful, and a few appeared almost 



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