PUFFINUS CHLORORHYNCHUS. 



is distinguished by its uniform brown colour, the dark brown breast being 

 a prominent specific character. 



The range of P. chlororhynchus extends from Australia and the adjacent islands 

 to Mauritius and other Mascarene islands ; and, as far as I can judge, from a study of 

 the large series in the British Museum and in the Rothschild Collection, there is but one 

 species throughout this widely-extended area, though some ornithologists have 

 considered that the Wedge-tailed Shearwater of the Mascarene Islands is specifically 

 distinct from its representative in Australia. Schlegel, for instance (Mus. Pays-Bas, 

 VI. , Procell., p. 25), separates the Australian bird, which he calls P. sphenurus, 

 Gould, from the bird of Reunion, which he calls P. chlororhynchus, Lesson. The 

 latter, he says, is of a stouter build, and has an orange-coloured bill, black anteriorly, 

 whereas in P. sphenurus the bill is brown. 



It is possible that the bird from the Mascarene Islands may yet prove 

 distinct from the Australian form, to which the name of sphenurus has been generally 

 applied, but I find no difference of plumage in specimens from these distant localities, 

 and specific characters will have to be sought in the colour of the bill and feet. It should 

 be observed that no naturalist has, as yet, recorded any freshly-killed specimen as 

 having a green bill, and it is somewhat curious that Lesson should bestow the name 

 of chlororhynchus on a bird which, by his own account, had a yellow bill, for his diagnosis 

 is as follows : — " Bill yellowish at base, black at tip ; tarsi yellow ; plumage sooty- 

 brown ; wings and tail dull black." This author gives no locality for his species, but 

 Pucheran, in his essay on Lesson's types (Rev. ZooL, 1850, p. 633), says that the 

 specimen described by Lesson was in the Paris Museum, and was obtained by Quoy and 

 Gaimard in December, 1820, in the " Baie des Chiens Marins." Prom the report of 

 the voyage of the " Uranie " and " Physicienne " (p. 150) it seems that the bay above 

 alluded to is Shark's Bay in Western Australia, and Peron's Peninsula is mentioned 

 as being in the vicinity. 



It is, therefore, evident that the name of chlororhynchus cannot be applied, as has 

 hitherto been the custom, to the Mauritius bird, but belongs to the Australian species ; 

 and if this should prove to be distinct, Gould's name of P. sphenurus would be super- 

 seded by that of P. chlororhynchus, founded on an Australian specimen. 



Pucheran, who made the above identification, did not arrive at this conclusion, 

 but considered that Lesson's species was not identical with P. sphenurus, Gould, P. 

 brevicaudus, Gould, or P. cameipes, Gould. According to Pucheran, the type measures 

 34 centimetres ( = 13.4 inches) from the tip of the bill to the end of the tail, the wings 

 extending beyond the latter. The yellow colour of the bill and feet is confirmed by 

 him, and he further states that the type of P. chlororhynchus is not identical with P. 

 sphenurus, but, from its short tail, approaches P. brevicaudus and P. cameipes, being 

 distinguished from both of these by its more slender bill. 



Dr. Menegaux, the successor of the late Dr. Oustalet at the Paris Museum, has kindly 



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