62. (ESTRELATA PARVIROSTRIS (Peale). 



(PHCENIX ISLANDS FULMAR.) 



(Plate 52.) 



Procellaria parvirostris, Peale, U. S. Expl. Exped., VIII., pp. 298, 338, PL 41 (1848) ; 

 Cass., U. S. Expl. Exped., pp. 411, 451 (1858). 



Rhantistes parvirostris, Bp., Comptes Rend., XLIL, p. 768 (1856). 



MstrdaXa parvirostris, Coues, Pr. Acad. Philad., 1866, p. 146. 



Fidmarus parvirostris, Gray, Handl. Birds, III., p. 106 (1871). 



(Estrelata parvirostris, Buller, Birds New Zeal., 2nd ed., II., p. 224 (1888) ; Lister, 

 P. Z. S., 1891, p. 295 ; Wiglesw., Abhandl. Mus. Dresden, 1890-91, No. 6, 

 p. 82 (1891) ; Salvin, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., XXV., p. 405 (1896). 



(E. rostratce similis, sed minor, rostro debiliore. 



It has been difficult for me to define the characters which separate (E. parvirostris from 

 (E. rostrata. Two specimens of the former in the British Museum from the Phoenix 

 Islands do not agree with the Plates published by Peale in 1848, and by Cassin in 1858. 



I possess one of the original copies of the 1848 edition of the United States Exploring 

 Expedition, which is an extremely rare book, as the bulk of the edition was destroyed 

 by fire — hence the re-publication of the work by Cassin in 1858. In my copy of 

 the 1848 edition, and in the 1858 edition in the British Museum, the colour of the 

 figures of (E. rostrata and (E. parvirostris has faded into a brown tint, whereas the 

 species are described by Peale as " dark fuliginous," and the general aspect of (E. 

 parvirostris is certainly blackish. 



Salvin, in his " Key to the Species of (Estrelata " (Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., XXV., 

 p. 398), separates the two on the score of size only, (E. rostrata having a wing of 



II inches, and (E. parvirostris a wing of 10.5 inches. This is a difference of small 

 moment in the family of Petrels, and the female of (E. parvirostris from Canton 

 Island in the British Museum has a wing of 10.8 inches in length, thus nearly equalling 

 that of (E. rostrata. 



The specimens at my disposition are not enough for me to determine the differential 

 characters of the two species, but it is difficult to believe that they can be held 



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