WESTERN WEDGE-TAILED PETREL. 
jaune a sa base, noir a sa pointe ; tarses jaunes ; plumage brun fuligineux ; ailes 
et queue noir mat.” 
The type of Lesson’s bird was obtained in Shark’s Bay, West Australia, 
by Quoy and Gaimard, in 1820, as pointed out by Pucheran in 1850. On com- 
paring the type (which Mr. Menegaux very kindly sent me over from the Museum 
d’Histoire NatureUe, Paris) with other East Australian shot skins, I found it 
to be lighter in coloration, and at first ascribed this to immaturity, but later 
I found that all West Australian birds were noticeably lighter than Eastern 
ones. 
The type of P. p. chlororhynchus measures : wing 277 mm., tail (imperf.) 
127, tarsus 46, culmen (exp.) 37, middle toe 44. Lesson’s original description 
in itself was not sufficient to be quite sure what bird was meant, but the 
preservation of the type, of course, places it beyond all doubt. 
I have since noted that in the JE^nu, Vol. X., p. 203, 1910, footnote, 
A. J. C.[ampbell] has also observed this difference in coloration, as follows : 
“ The specimen I brought from Western Australia, which is in the National 
Museum, Melbourne, is similar, but slightly lighter coloured in plumage, no 
doubt due to being exposed in the case for 20 years.” This was written, on 
comparison with specimens obtained on the Capricorn group. 
Gould’s P. sphenurus was described from Houtmann’s Abrolhos, West 
Australia, thus: — 
Pu£&nus sphenurus, n, sp. All the upper-surface dark chocolate-brown, which gradually 
deepens into black on the primaries and tail ; feathers of the scapularies, which are very 
broad in form, washed with lighter brown at their tips ; face and throat dark brownish-gray, 
the remainder of the under-surface grayish-brown ; bill reddish fleshy-brown, darker on the 
culmen and tip ; legs and feet yellowish flesh-colour. Total length inches ; bill If ; wing 
11| ; tail 6 ; tarsi 1| ; middle-toe and nail 2|. 
Houtmann’s Abrolhos, Western Australia. 
This name falls as an absolute synonym of P. p. chlororhynchus Lesson. 
The coloration of the bill of P. pacificus chlororhynchus seems stiff to be un- 
certain. Gould described the biff as reddish fleshy-brown, darker on the 
culmen and tip. 
Goues, with Gould’s specimens in front of him, wrote : “ The bill is flesh 
colour, tinged with brown ; much darker along the culmen and on the unguis.” 
Mr. Hall states that the biff is slate- colour, with the tip or nail black, and 
now Campbell and White aver that the Western form has the biff the same 
colour as the Eastern, which they caff “ dark horn or bone-brown.” 
As the characters of these dark Puffinus lie mainly in the bills, further 
investigations are necessary, and a series of birds studied. 
A good series in the Rothschild Museum, Tring, collected on Cousin Island, 
one of the Seychelles, confirm the constancy of these birds. Fourteen specimens. 
VOL. II. 
81 
