65. (ESTRELATA FEiE, Salvador*. 



(FEA'S FULMAR.) 



Procellaria mollis (nee Gould) Harcourt, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., (2) XV., p. 438 



(1855). 

 (E sir data mollis (nee Gould) Dalgleish, Ibis, 1890, p. 386 ; Hartwig, J. f. 0., 1893, 



p. 11 ; Salvin, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., XXV., p. 406, pt. (1896) ; Dresser, 



Birds Eur. Suppl., p. 411, PI. 721, pt. (1896). 

 (Estrdata fece, Salvad., Ann. Mus. Civic. Genov. (2), XX., p. 305 (1899) ; id., Ibis, 1900, 



p. 302, 1904, p. 166 ; Jourdain, Bull. B. 0. C, XIX., p. 37 (1907). 



(E. molli similis, sed gastraeo pure albo, praepectore minime cinereo vermiculato. 



The Fulmar of Madeira and the Cape Verde Islands has been generally identified with 

 (E. mollis (Gould), but, in 1900, Count Salvadori pointed out that the bird from these 

 islands in the North Atlantic was distinct from that of the southern oceans. Having 

 received specimens from the Cape Verde Islands from the well-known traveller, Signor 

 Leonardo Fea, Count Salvadori described this Fulmar as (Estrdata few, and stated 

 that it was somewhat larger than (E. mollis, that the under-surface was entirely white, 

 without a grey band across the fore-neck, and that the flanks were more mottled 

 with grey. Although supposed to be confined to the Cape Verdes and Madeira, 

 it is not improbable that (E. fece will yet be found in the Canaries, for, being 

 nocturnal in habits, it easily escapes observation. 



From an examination of the specimens in the Rothschild Collection and in the 

 British Museum, I consider that Count Salvadori was justified in separating the 

 Fulmar of the North Atlantic from <E. mollis, since the geographical distribution of 

 the species is very different, (E. mollis not crossing the Equator, and being only found 

 as far north as the 20th or 30th parallel (Ibis, 1900, p. 302). 



I have not seen any specimens from the Cape Verde Islands, but the Madeira birds 

 have no sign of a grey chest-band, and are pure white below, from the chin to the under 

 tail-coverts. The series before me does not confirm the larger size of (E. fece, which 

 has a wing measuring from 9.6 to 9.8 inches, whereas the examples of (E. mollis vary 

 from 9.5 to 10.5 inches. No distinction between the two forms exists with regard 

 to the grey mottling of the sides of the body, but, as a rule, the bill is more slender in 

 (E. few. 



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