46. PUFFINUS BAILLONI, Bp. 



(MADEIRAN SHEARWATER.) 



Pufflnus bailloni, Bp., Comptes Rend., XLIL, p. 769 (1856) ; id., Consp. Av., II., p. 205 



(1856). 

 Pufflnus obscurus (nee Gm.), Bolle, J. f. O., 1856, pp. 29-30; Godman, Ibis, 1872, 



p. 223 ; Ogilvie-Grant, Ibis, 1890, p. 444. 

 Pufflnus assimilis (nee Gould), Ogilvie-Grant, Ibis, 1896, p. 50 ; Boyd Alexander, Ibis, 



1898, pp. 96-98, 109, 117; Howard Saunders, Man. Brit. Birds, 2nd ed., 



p. 743 (1899). 

 Pufflnus obscurus bailloni, Rothschild and Hartert, Nov. Zool., VI., p. 196 (1899) ; 



Hartert, Nov. Zool., XII., p. 99 (1905). 

 Pufflnus sp., Salvad., Ann. Mus. Civ. Gen. (2), XX., p. 303 (1899). 



P. assimili propinquus, sed remigibus intus grisescenti-albis, haud pure albis : 

 subcaudalibus pure albis, lateralibus externe nigro marginatis distinguendus. 



The Madeira Petrel is closely allied to P. assimilis of the Australian Seas, but the 

 quill-lining is greyer and more dusky. 



In P. bailloni the inner webs of the quills below are greyish-white, while the under 

 wing-coverts are, in contrast, pure white. The quill-lining is greyish or ashy-white, 

 not dusky as in P. obscurus, nor of such a pure white as in P. assimilis. In the 

 latter bird all the under tail-coverts are entirely white, whereas in P. bailloni the long 

 lateral feathers are more or less black along their outer webs. This is the principal 

 character which distinguishes P. bailloni from its allies. 



Bonaparte described his Pufflnus bailloni from " Isle de France " {i.e., Mauritius), 

 and gave the following diagnosis : — " Minimus : nigricans : subtus abrupte a rostro 

 candidus." 



The bird which inhabits the Mascarene Islands is, I believe, P. obscurus, and, 

 therefore, if Bonaparte is right as regards the habitat of his species, his P. bailloni is 

 identical with P. obscurus. The name has been attached to the Madeira and Azorean 

 Shearwater by Dr. Hartert, who, however, did not fail to notice that there was some 

 doubt as to its correctness, and he hints that possibly the North Atlantic form may 

 require a new title (Nov. Zool., XII., p. 99). This is my opinion also, but for the 



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