71. (ESTKELATA NIGRIPENNIS, Rothschild. 



(KERMADEC FULMAR.) 



(Plate 59.) 



(Estrelata cooki (nee Gray) Cheeseman, Trans. N. Zeal. Inst., XXIII., p. 224 (1891). 



(Estrelata nigripennis, Rothschild, Bull. B. 0. C, I., p. lvii. (1893) ; id., Ibis, 1893, 

 p. 571 ; Hutton, P. Z. S., 1893, p. 750 ; Buller, Tr. New Zeal. Inst., XXVII., 

 p. 123 (1895) ; Salvin, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., XXV., p. 409 (1896) ; Buller, 

 Birds New Zealand, Suppl., I., p. 113 (1905). 



Minor : ala 8-7 : subalaribus albis, extus nigro fasciatis : pileo et dorso cinereis 

 concoloribus. 



(E. nigripennis was first described by the Hon. Walter Rothschild from a bird in his large 

 series from the Kermadec Islands. It belongs to the smaller species of the genus 

 (Estrelata, and is allied to CE. cooki and (E. defilippiana, but differs in having a short, stout 

 and wide bill, and in the almost total absence of white on the inner webs of the outer 

 primaries beneath, the under wing-coverts, with the exception of rather a wide margin, 

 being white, as well as the axillaries. Its habitat, so far as we know, is confined to the 

 Kermadec Archipelago, where it is not uncommon ; but as the bird only arrives there 

 in November and leave in April, it is probable that it will be found elsewhere. 



(E. nigripennis was met with on Curtis Island by the Earl of Ranfurly (c/. Ogilvie- 

 Grant, Ibis, 1905, p. 555), and is known to breed on Meyer Island, and more sparingly 

 on Sunday Island, in company with Puffinus assimilis. 



The single egg is laid in a burrow, sometimes extending over a yard in length. 

 Those obtained by Mr. Bell measured 2 inches in length by 1.5 in breadth. 



Adult. General colour above fight ashy-grey, the feathers obsoletely fringed with 

 hoary-white, these margins being scarcely perceptible ; the scapulars rather darker than 

 the back, the longer ones being blacker, slightly washed with ashy-grey ; on the lower 

 rump a patch of blackish feathers, the median basal upper tail-coverts also blackish ; 

 remainder of upper tail-coverts fight ashy-grey, with obsolete white margins ; wing- 

 coverts black, the greater series slaty-grey, with narrow white fringes ; quills black, 

 white for the greater part of the inner web, the secondaries externally slaty-grey, with 



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