Birds. 3949 



Having carefully examined specimens of this bird from Australia, 

 others from Madeira, and these with the recently acquired example 

 from Valentia Harbour, I am induced to consider them but as one 

 species ; and that the Puffinus obscurus of Mr. Gould's ' Birds of 

 Europe,' and the Puffinus assimilis of his ' Birds of Australia,' are, ac- 

 cordingly, identical. Several examples of equally extensive geogra- 

 phical range will hereafter be quoted. Of the Puffinus assimilis Mr. 

 Gould observes: — "All the specimens of this species that I have 

 seen were procured on Norfolk Island, where it is said to breed ; con- 

 sequently the seas washing the eastern shores of Australia may be 

 considered its native habitat : it is evidently the representative of the 

 Puffinus obscurus of Europe, which it so much resembles, and to 

 which it is so nearly allied, that assimilis appeared to me to be the 

 most appropriate specific appellation I could apply to it. On my home- 

 ward voyage 1 saw numerous examples flying off the North-eastern 

 end of New Zealand, and this, 1 regret to say, is all the information I 

 have to communicate respecting it." Two specimens of this bird are 

 in the collection at the British Museum, presented by Sir Thomas 

 Mitchell from Eastern Australia, and the occurrence of this species 

 at King George's Sound, on the South-west coast, has been already 

 noticed. 



Birds of great and enduring powers of flight ; able, moreover, to 

 take their rest, and obtain their food on the surface of the sea, may 

 reasonably be expected to have a wide geographical range ; and of 

 these powers the birds belonging to the families of the petrels and the 

 terns are remarkable examples. 



Procellaria mollis of Mr. Gould's ' Birds of Australia.' "Abundant 

 in the Atlantic and Pacific, but more numerous in the former than the 

 latter." A skin of this petrel, obtained at Madeira, was compared 

 with one of Mr. Gould's birds, and found to be exactly similar. 



Procellaria Pacifica of Audubon, who received it from the North- 

 west coast of America. This species I have seen from Madeira. 



Procellaria hcesitata. This petrel is so rare, that only four or five 

 examples are known. One from the Indian seas ; one from the seas 

 of Australia ; one from Hayti; and one taken in Norfolk, (Zool. 3691). 



Thalassidroma Wilsoni. Taken in four counties of England; seen 

 in the Bay of Biscay, near the Azores and Madeira, Australia and the 

 Southern Atlantic, and northward from thence towards Charlestown. 



Sterna stolida. Has been obtained in Dublin Bay, in France, and 

 at St. Helena. Very common over great part of the southern hemi- 

 sphere. 



