THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
point out, however, that there remains a great deal to be done before we can 
pretend to know much about this group. Apparently the very first ornithologist 
to meet with any of this group was Dr. Solander when he described Nectris 7 nunda, 
which was figured by Parkinson. The name was introduced into literature by 
Kuhl, and as nothing determinate was given, the query “ Quid Procellaria 
7nunda Kuhl ? ” has become almost a by- word. I shall give Solander’s 
description, so that question may be answered, but unfortunately not 
absolutely. Of this more later. Dr. Solander also met with another form 
which he called Nectris nugax^ and that name has been applied to and even 
used for the form called Puffinus assiinilis by Gould, to which I will revert 
again. 
The earliest introduction of any scientific name to be correctly published 
was that by Gmelin, who, in the Syst. Nat., p. 559, 1789, named Procellaria 
obscura, the description of which reads : — 
Procellaria obscura, 
Pr. nigra, subtus alba, membrana digitos connectente fulva. 
Dusky Petrel. Lath., Syn., III., 2, p. 416, n. 23. 
Habitat in insula nativitatis Christi, 13 pollices longa. 
Rostrum nigrum, ad latera corneum, apice aduncum ; loco narium foramina 2 exilia ; 
latera colli ex fusco alboque varia ; tectricum alarum mediarum margo albicans ; 
digiti 2 interiores flavicantes ; ungues nigri. 
This is simply a Latin translation of Latham’s diagnosis, which reads as 
follows : — 
Dusky Petrel. Br. Mus. 
Length thirteen inches. Bill an inch and a half ; the sides of it horn-colour, otherwise 
black ; in the usual place of the tube are only two small holes, serving for nostrils ; the point 
of the bill hooked ; the upper-parts of the body are dusky black, the under white ; on the 
sides of the neck brown and white mixed ; the edges of the middle wing-coverts are whitish ; 
the legs are placed quite in the vent, and are, for the most part, black, except the inside, 
which is pale the whole length, and the two inner toes yellowish ; the webs orange-colour ; 
claws black. 
Inhabits Christmas Island. One of these, measuring less by two inches in length, is in 
the Leverian Museum, said to have come from King George’s Sound, on the American coast. 
Though proposed for a bird from the Pacific Ocean, Vieillot {Nouv. Diet. 
d^Hist. Nat., Vol. XXV., p. 423, 1817) used Procellaria obscura in connection 
with a bird which occurred in European waters, and thereafter it was wrongly 
restricted to the Atlantic Ocean bird, being used for an American as weU as 
a European form. This usage continued till a quite recent date. 
In 1820 Kuhl (p. 148) included the attached : — 
Nectris munda Banks, tab. 24. 
(e) Cauda brevi, cuneiformi, alis cauda aliquantum brevioribus.ff Unguibus falculatis. 
Magnitudine Perdicis. — The beak blue-grey towards the back and the point black, the 
legs and feet the same colour as in the Procell, cyanopedo — 25 Pebr. 1769. Lat. 48.27 ; 
longitude 93. Banks. 
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