THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
claw, it must be classed in the genus Fregetta. Its measurements are: culmen 
(exp.) 14, wing (worn) 155, tarsus 37, and middle toe without claw 21 mm. 
It may be called — 
Fregetta tuhulata, sp. n. 
the MS. name given to it by Gould, which it now bears. 
Mr. A. F. B. Hull, who is interesting himself, with wonderful results, in 
this hitherto sadly neglected group, very kindly forwarded me a bird, as noted 
above, which was picked up dead on Lord Howe Island, October 10th, 1910. 
It belongs to the F. grallaria group, but is so distinct that examination of 
a series might prove it to be a good species, not subspecies. 
I give here a description of this strange bird : — 
It is much darker above than F. g. grallaria and has black fringes to the 
rump-feathers, square tail, the bases of the feathers of the throat are dark, but 
the white lower-breast and abdomen are flecked with grey, especially noticeable 
on the flanks, and the axillaries are streaked with grey, whereas in every other 
specimen they are pure white ; the under tail-coverts are white with dark tips, 
whereas in F. g. grallaria they would be said to be dark with white bases. 
Another noticeable feature is the lack of white on the inner wing-coverts. 
The greatest peculiarity about the bird is the very depressed nasal tube which 
seems to have been soft in life, and the method in which the forehead-feathers 
approach on the bill, giving the bird a vulturine aspect. It has the tarsus 
scutellated and the claws short and broad as in F. g. grallaria, but has the 
middle toe distinctly the shortest. The measurements are : culmen (exp.) 
14, wing 161, tarsus 36, middle toe without claw 19. 
Now with regard to F. leucogaster Gould : . 
This species was described from the Atlantic Ocean, not far from Tristan 
d’Acunha, and all the specimens I have seen from the Atlantic and west of the 
Indian Ocean are referable to this species, while all the birds from Australian 
waters and the South Pacific Ocean are of the F. grallaria group. 
F. leucogaster is similar in general appearance to F. tropica and melanogaster 
and has the same characteristics. The coloration is more brownish than 
in F. g. grallaria ; the bases of the feathers of the throat are light ; the tarsus 
booted. Accepting the Monograph of the Petrels identification of F, grallaria 
as correct, Salvadori separated a bird as F. melanoleuca, the description of 
which is appended: — 
Bulletin B.O.C., Vol. XXI., p. 79, 1900. 
Compared with F. grallaria (from between Callao and Valparaiso and lat. 27° 53' S., long. 
88° -04 .=segethi) much larger, with the upper-parts uniform brownish-black, with no 
white margins to the feathers of the back, and with the base of the feathers of the throat 
forming a defined but concealed white patch. There is no trace of a dark shade on the sides 
of the lower abdomen, and the black apical half of the under tail-coverts is more sharply 
defined. 
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