THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
Of this bird, under the incorrect name P. gavia Forster, in the Monograph 
of the Petvels, is the comment (p. 120) : This is one of the most distinct members 
of the small group to which it belongs. It has a wing of from 7.9-9.0 inches 
in length, and must therefore be referred to the section of P. obscurusP From 
this it must not be concluded that this bird is a subspecies of P. “ dbscurusP 
the noteworthy distinguishing characters being its larger size, much longer bill, 
and absolutely shorter tail. I have given, in the article dealing with P. a. asswnilis 
Gould, a copy of the original description of Forster’s P. gavia, which proves at 
once the misapplication of Forster’s name. When the present bird was first 
recorded from New Zealand it was identified as P. opistho^nelas Coues, to which 
it certainly has some resemblance, whereas with it and Forster’s P. gavia there 
is little in common. 
It should be noted that in the Monograph of the Petrels, p. 120 et seq., another 
strange error has been made when treating of this species. On p. 122 an adult 
male is described, and on p. 123 an adult female is also detailed. Appreciable 
differences are noticeable from these descriptions, but, as is well known, the 
sexes are, practically speaking, alike in the genus Puffinus. 
The first specimen was unlocalised, save New Zealand, but agrees with 
birds from the Hauraki Gulf, North Island ; the second specimen was from the 
Snares Island, south of the South Island. The measurements of this latter are all 
larger, and at the Rothschild Museum, Tring, is preserved with that bird, another, 
marked as and collected at the same time and place ; a third also agrees, 
while the remainder of the series in that Museum are all quite similar to the 
first-mentioned bird. In the Monograph, p. 122, the colour is given as “ above 
sooty-black,” which seems to me quite wrong. I have called the colour “ dark 
brown,” but freshly-moulted specimens agree with Reischek’s description of 
“ glossy blackish-brown.” 
I have traced three definite records of this bird in Australian waters, the 
most recent being that by North {Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., Vol. XXXIV., p. 49, 
1909), who exhibited : “ The skin of Puffinus gavia is that of an adult male picked 
up dead on Bondi Beach, after an easterly gale, in September, 1908.” I include 
this occurrence under the typical form, as the bird recorded by Salvin {Proc. 
Zool. Soc. (Lond.) 1891, p. 627) as having been captured alive in Victoria 
Park, Sydney, on August 2nd, 1891, certainly is a typical specimen ; it is now 
in the British Museum, where I have examined it. 
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