81. (ESTRELATA FISHERI, Ridgway. 



(FISHER'S FULMAR.) 



(Estrelata fisheri, Ridgway, Pr. U. S. Nat. Mus., V., p. 656 (1883) ; Coues, Key N. 

 Amer. Birds, 2nd ed., p. 780 (1884) ; Baird, Brewer and Ridgway, Water- 

 Birds N. Amer., II., p. 396 (1884) ; Ridgway, Pr. U. S. Nat. Mus., VIII., p. 18 

 (1885) ; Salvin, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., XXV., p. 415 (1896). 



Mstrelata fisheri, Ridgway, Auk, XII., p. 319, PL 4 (1895) ; A. O. U. Checkl. N. 

 Amer. Birds, p. 103 (1886). 



CE. gulari similis, et subtus cinerascens, sed pileo albo, fusco-cinereo maculato : 

 rectricibus duabus externis fere omnino albis, haud extus cineraceis : hypochondriis 

 albis, minime cinereo fasciatis. 



I have had no opportunity of seeing the only known example of this species, which 

 was procured on June 11th, 1882, by Mr. William J. Fisher, on Kadiak Island, Alaska, 

 and is now in the U. S. National Museum at Washington. There is no account of its 

 habits or nidification. 



From its grey under-surface, CE. -fisheri is evidently closely allied to CE. gularis, 

 but although Mr. Ridgway compares it also with (E. defilippiana in his paper 

 in the " Auk," 1895, p. 321, the under-surface of the body is white in the latter bird, 

 and it has several other distinct characters. 



In the Plate accompanying the memoir, (E. fisheri is depicted as having a 

 white head with dusky-grey spots, which is very different from the uniform dull slate- 

 colour of the head in CE. gularis. Salvin has published the following summary of the 

 characters of the two species, sent to him by Mr. Ridgway for the " Catalogue of 

 Birds " :— 



" (E. fisheri differs conspicuously from CE. gularis in the very much lighter colour 

 of the upper-parts, the mantle being lighter, not darker, than the No. 7 grey of my 

 ' Nomenclature of Colours.' The upper tail-coverts and tail still paler, while the 

 entire nape and pileus are white, the former marked with crescentic bars, and the latter 

 more sparsely with cordate and sagittate spots of slate-colour ; the white edgings of 

 the greater wing-coverts and secondaries are much broader, and the inner web of the 



239 



