ALLIED PETREL. 
bird, the type of P. tenehrosus Pelzeln. It is, as concluded by all who have 
studied either the bird or Pelzeln’s good detailed description, a typical Mid- 
Pacific bnd, and from comparison with the series from the Pacific Ocean I 
should conclude it might have come from Christmas Island. It is nearer the 
Samoan form than the Pelew birds, though the solitary specimen does not 
exactly agree with the Samoan series. 
It appears to have been overlooked that, if this bird is a typical 
the type of P. dbscura would be atypical. As a matter of fact, it is certain that 
Procellaria obscura, given to a bird two inches longer, cannot be used for the 
bird two inches less. The lesser bird was considered to have come from King 
George’s Sound, North America, while the bigger bird “ inhabits Christmas 
Island.” I however conclude that the smaller bird is the Christmas Island one, 
so that the habitat of the larger would appear to be also incorrect. Tf this be 
accepted, as it undoubtedly must, then what was the bigger bird described by 
Latham ? There are birds two inches bigger than P. tenehrosus Pelzeln, which 
otherwise agree fairly with Latham’s account, and examination of one gives 
most interesting results. The idea that Latham had transposed the localities 
of his specimens, was suggested by the conclusion that the smaller bird might 
inhabit Christmas Island, and therefore that the west coast of North America 
was the habitat of the larger bird, the true P. ohscurus Gmelin. Investigation 
regarding the birds of that region gives the following. 
In the Proc, Acad. Nat. Sci. PTiilad. 1864, p. 139, Cones describes his 
Puffinus opisthomelas as follows : — 
P. Puff.no ohsGuro nec perdissimilis ; sed major, rostro longiore, robustiore, alis pedi- 
busque longioribus, cauda breviore, minus rotundata ; et tectricibus caudae inferioribus fere 
omnino fuliginoso-nigris. 
Hab. Cape St. Lucas, Lower California. 
A beautifully detailed description is then given, the “ P. ohscurus ” used for 
comparison by Cones being the West Indian bird. 
In the Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus., Vol. XIII., p. 133, 1890, Townsend introduced 
a new species, P. auricularis, thus : — 
Adult female ; Not unlike P. opisthomelas in general appearance. Bill and feet smaller ; 
colours of upper parts darker, nearly black ; black of head extending below eye to level 
of mouth ; black of wing extending well over edge of wing to the under-surface ; sides 
of neck mottled by the gradual blending of white and black. Wing 8.75 ; tail 3.15 ; 
culmen 1.20 ; tarsus 1.70. Habitat, Clarion Island. 
^ Uo * . 
Comparison of the full details given by Coues with this latter description 
pointed to a confusion of ideas, which was borne out by examination of series 
of specimens from Clarion Island contrasted with another from Monterey, 
California. These latter are accepted as the true P. opisthomelas^ Coues, in the 
Monograph of the Petrels, and apparently also in the Check-List of the American 
VOL. n. 
65 
