(ESTRELATA NEGLECTA. 



seen in other species of (Estrelata. The white phase was described as a distinct species 

 by the late Captain Hutton, under the name of CE. leucophrys, but no doubt Salvin 

 was right in referring this bird to CE. neglecta. If any further proof of their identity 

 were needed, it is supplied by the notes given by Buller in his " Supplement " (I., p. 115), 

 stating that Mr. Bethune, the engineer on board the " Hinemoa," found both light and 

 dark birds breeding together on Sunday Island, in the Kermadecs. The male was the 

 so-called CE. leucophrys and the female CE. neglecta. He also found them paired on 

 other occasions. Buller records that the legs and feet of the dark birds are brownish- 

 black, whereas in the light form the tarsus was yellowish, and the toes " sandalled " 

 with black. 



Both light and dark forms have a conspicuous white quill-lining, with the shafts 

 of the primaries also conspicuously white, and this character serves to distinguish 

 Phillip's Fulmar from its allies. 



The headquarters of CE. neglecta appear to be the Kermadec Islands, where it 

 breeds, extending also across the Pacific to Juan Fernandez, whence we have a specimen 

 collected by Admiral A. H. Markham in March, 1881. It does not, however, appear 

 in Professor Giglioli's list of the Petrels observed during the voyage of the " Magenta." 



I have examined a large number of specimens in the Rothschild Collection from 

 the Kermadec group, obtained by Mr. Cheeseman and Mr. H. H. Travers, and the British 

 Museum has a considerable series from the same locality, which was visited by 

 the Earl of Ranfurly (cf. Ogilvie-Grant, Ibis, 1905, p. 555). The types in the Leyden 

 Museum represent the dark phase, and are also from the Kermadecs, and were 

 received from the Maison Verreaux. Macgillivray procured a number on Raoul 

 Island, where the birds were breeding, and to these the name of CE. raolensis was given 

 by Gould, but it was not published, though adopted by Bonaparte (Comptes Bend., 

 XLIL, 1856, p. 765). Here again no description was given, so that it becomes a nomen 

 nudum. 



Although the range of this species was supposed to be confined to the 

 Pacific Ocean, we find in the second volume of " British Birds " (p. 14) that 

 Messrs. Robert Newstead and T. A. Coward record a specimen at Tarporley, in 

 Cheshire, on April 1st, 1908, which, though picked up dead under a tree, was in an 

 excellent state of preservation. This bird was afterwards brought to the British 

 Museum, where I had an opportunity of examining it, and found it to be a dark -phased 

 example of CE. neglecta. 



The following descriptions comprise both the dark and the light plumages of the 

 species : — 



Adult (dark phase : = CE. neglecta, Schl.). General colour above dusky -brown, 

 with a slight ashy shade, produced by the scarcely distinguishable slaty-grey 

 margins to the feathers, the longer scapulars blacker and more resembling the inner 

 secondaries, all the feathers of the upper surface having concealed white bases ; wing- 



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