87. (ESTRELATA AXILLARIS, Salvin. 



(CHATHAM ISLANDS FULMAR.) 



(Plate 72.) 



(Estrelata axillaris, Salvin, Bull. B. 0. C., L, p. xxxiii. (1893) ; id., Ibis, 1893, p. 264 ; 

 H. 0. Forbes, Ibis, 1893, p. 542 ; Salvin, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., XXV., p. 418, 

 PI. VII. (1896). 



(E. minor : ala, 8.4 : supra schistacea, pileo vix saturatiore : subalaribus mediis et 

 majoribus albis, reliquis marginalibus late nigris : axillaribus nigris. 



This species belongs to the smaller section of the genus (Estrelata, in which the outer 

 primary shows some white towards the base of the inner web, and the wing does not 

 exceed 8.5 inches in length. From (E. coohi and the other allied forms, (E. axillaris 

 is distinguished by having the axillaries black. 



The original specimens of (E. axillaris were obtained by the late Mr. Hawkins 

 on the south-east island of the Chatham Group, on May 8th, 1892, and were described 

 by Salvin in 1893, who considered the birds to be somewhat immature. The Hon. 

 Walter Rothschild also possesses several specimens collected by Mr. Dannefaerd on 

 the Chatham Islands, to which the bird is mostly confined. Buller, in his " Supplement 

 to the Birds of New Zealand," mentions a specimen which was picked up on the 

 Wairarapa plains (Suppl. Birds New Zealand, I., p. 119). 



Adult male. General colour above slaty-grey with dusky-blackish margins to the 

 feathers, the longer scapulars more conspicuously black towards their ends ; wing-coverts 

 blackish, washed with ashy-grey, especially on the greater series ; bastard-wing, 

 primary-coverts, and quills black, the latter white for a great part of the inner web, 

 less distinct on the secondaries, which are externally ashy-grey, with hoary-white 

 margins like the greater wing-coverts ; lower back, rump, and upper tail-coverts paler 

 ashy-grey with blackish shaft lines, not distinct on the upper tail-coverts, which have 

 lighter grey margins ; tail-feathers slaty-grey, with black shafts, the outer feather 

 slightly mottled with ashy-brown and white frecklings ; crown of head slightly darker 

 than the back ; forehead white, mottled with black spots in the centre ; lores and 



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