296 



AVIFAUNA OF LAYSAN, ETC. 



British Museum are not good. Those from Christmas Island are rather reddish and 



measure : — 



Wing. Bill as above. 



mm. mm. 

 320 73-5 



341 73 



328 755 



They seem thus to he somewhat intermediate between the smaller and whiter and the 

 larger and more reddish form, but a larger series must be studied to confirm this impression. 

 In any case there are two distinct subspecies— one the typical P. rubricauda ; the other 



PHAETHON RUBRICAUDA ERUBESCENS, Subsp. nOV. 

 [K,v Banks's Icon. ined. pi. 31, and Gray, List of Birds in B. M. pt. iii. p. 184 (1814), and Ibis, 1862, p. 250 

 — nomen nudum !!] 



P. rubricauda erubescens differs from P. rubricauda in being larger, with stronger bill, 

 and in having a more reddish plumage. 



Hab. Kermadec, Norfolk, Lord Howe's Islands. 



In the synonymy of P. rubricauda in the ' Catalogue of Birds ' are two quotations which 

 cannot without hesitation be referred to that species, namely : — 



1. P. melanorhynchus, Gmelin, ex Latham, Black-billed Tropic Bird, Gen. Syn. iii. pt. ii. 



p. 619. 



The description of this supposed form does not suit P. rubricauda. It is described 

 as smaller than P. atherew, P. lepturus, and P. /ulcus, and as having a black bill, 

 while the description of the plumage indicates a young bird. I should consider it rather 

 to be the young of P. cethereus, under which species it might be quoted with a query. 



2. P. nova-hollandice, Brandt, Mem. Acad. Petersb. (6) v. pt. ii. p. 272 (1810), ex Latham's 



New Holland Tropic Bird, Gen. Hist. B. x. p. 418 (1824). 



This refers also to a young ~Phaethon, and can only be quoted with a big query 

 under the head of one of the known species. 



93. PHAETHON LEPTURUS, Lacep. Sf Daudin. 



Phaeton Jepturus, Lacep. & Daudin in BunWs Hist. Nat. ed. 18mo, par Lacepede, chez Didot, Tabl. d. Ois. 

 in Quadr. xiv. p. 319 (1799). 



Phaeton Candidas, Tcram., -) 



nj ■■, n ■ , ■ ^ r of most authors. 



Phaeton flavirostTLs, Brandt, J 



P/iaethon lepturus, Grant, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xxvi. p. 453 (1898). 



Phaethon cethereus (non Linnaeus), Scott Wilson & Evans, Aves Hawaii, pt. vii. (1899). 



Palmer sent me skins of birds shot on Kauai in March, Oahu in April, and on Jkffiui in 

 October. He describes the bill as "orange-yellow, streaked with grey ; tarsi and .upper 

 portion of feet pearl-white with a blue tinge, the webs black." 



