MONOGRAPH OF THE PETRELS. 



claw, 2.45 ; culmen, 1.7. It will be noticed that, as in other species of Puffinus, the 

 size of the bill varies considerably. 



Sir Walter Buller picked up his first specimen on the beach of the Waikanae 

 River on the 1st of October, 1884. Six examples are now known, viz., the type 

 in the British Museum, two in the Rothschild Museum, one in the Buller Collection 

 (now in the Carnegie Museum at Pittsburg, U.S.A.), one in the Colonial Museum at 

 Wellington, and one recorded by Mr. L. M. Loomis (vide infra). 



The specimen in the Colonial Museum was obtained by the late Captain Fairchild 

 at Mokohinu Island in September. 



Mr. Anthony states that he noticed a Petrel off the islands of Lower California, 

 which he thought might be Puffinus bulleri, as it agreed very well with the descriptions 

 of that bird. As, however, no specimens were taken, he remarks that it would be 

 unwise to venture an opinion as to its identity ( Auk, XV., p. 38, 1898). 



In 1900, however, P. bulleri was definitely added to the avifauna of North 

 America by Mr. Leverett M. Loomis, who records, in the " Proceedings " of the 

 California Academy of Science ((3) Zool., II., p. 319, 1900), that he procured a female, 

 or young, specimen of Buller' s Shearwater on the 6th of November, about six miles off 

 Point Pinos, California. 



Adult. General colour above ashy-grey, including the mantle and scapulars, 

 the longer feathers of the latter being subterminally blackish ; wing-coverts also ashy- 

 grey, the marginal coverts and those round the edge of the wing blackish, as also the 

 bastard-wing and primary-coverts ; primaries also blackish, with the inner web for 

 the most part white, sometimes for two-thirds of the feather ; the secondaries ashy- 

 grey, slightly fringed with white, and having the inner web white for two-thirds of its 

 length ; the innermost secondaries blackish-brown, like the marginal coverts of the 

 wing ; lower back, rump, and upper tail-coverts ashy-grey, with obsolete white fringes 

 to some of the feathers ; tail black ; crown of head and nape blackish, the base of the 

 forehead and lores ashy- white with small blackish spots ; sides of face and ear-coverts 

 white, the latter ashy-brown above, the former spotted with dusky-brown below the 

 eye ; entire under-surface white, with a patch of ashy-brown on each side of the chest ; 

 under tail-coverts white, the longer ones mottled, edged with whitish-brown on the outer 

 edge ; under wing-coverts and axillaries pure white, as also the wing-lining ; " bill blue- 

 black, fading into bluish-grey on the sides of both mandibles ; inside of tarsi, which 

 are much flattened, the middle and inner toes, and the inter-digital web fleshy-white ; 

 outer aspect of tarsus and the whole of the outer toe brownish-black ; iris black " 

 (Buller). Total length 14 inches ; culmen, 1.55 ; wing, 11.1 ; tail, 4.8 ; tarsus, 2.1 ; 

 middle toe and claw, 2.35. 



The specimen from Mokohinu Island was sent by Captain Fairchild to the Colonial 

 Museum in spirits, and Buller took the following notes of the colours : — Sides of bill 

 greenish, the culminal ridge and hook brownish-black ; feet yellow, the outer side of 



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