Order PR0CELLARIIF0RME8 
Family PROCELLARIID^. 
No. 84. 
PUPFINUS LHERMINIERI NUGAX. 
QUEENSLAND BLACK-AND-WHITE PETEEL. 
Nectris ntjgax, Solander MS. ; off Townsville, Queensland. 
DiSTRiBTJTioiir. Off Townsville, Queensland. 
Adult. Above sooty, under-surface snow-white, the bill wholly lead-black, the nares a 
fourth of its length. Very hke Nectris munda, but that the body is much less, 
the bill longer and narrower, etc. ; eyes black, iris grey. Length 1 foot ; expanse of 
wings 2 feet ; bill If inches. 
I HAVE already given copies of the original descriptions drawn up by Solander,* 
and here give a free translation of the one made of this bird. From the locality 
P. nugax Solander was supposed to be identical with P. assimilis Gould, and 
was even used by Bonaparte to replace that name. But the differences pointed 
out between his P. nugax and P. munda show that that view is untenable. 
P. munda was described from the South Pacific Ocean, and with it Solander 
associated a bird procured off the Kaipara, North Island of New Zealand. The 
coloration given by Solander of his P. munda is “ cinereo-nigricans ” and 
“ calybeato-nigricantia,” whereas the term used for P. nugax is “ fuliginosa ” ; 
the former at once suggests the P. asshnilis group, whereas the latter, being 
used in a comparative manner, indicates a subspecies of P. Iherminieri ; the 
biU-coloration further points to this conclusion. 
It is just possible that Solander met with an Australian breeding bird 
which has not since been noted ; this view would have seemed improbable 
were it not for many facts which I shall point out when dealing with species 
of Pterodroma. The time of the year (June 6th) points to it being a breeding 
bird ; it must always be remembered that this group of little Petrels breed in 
the “winter months,” and consequently escape the attention of casual ob- 
servers who are generally working in the “ summer.” There seems no possible 
reason why it should not be breeding in that neighbourhood, on some of the 
islets of the Great Barrier Beef. 
Hull, in the Emu, Vol. XI., p. 207, 1912, notes that he saw two small 
white-breasted Shearwaters off the New South Wales Coast, and suggests that 
* p. 60 onto. 
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