THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
wing-coverts, and the whole of the under-part, white. Bill black, tarsi and knee brownish- 
yellow ; feet black, with the intermediate webs yeUow. Total length 12| inches ; bill length, 
1 inch 7 lines, depth in middle, 3^ lines ; wings, 9^ inches ; tarsi, 1 inch 2 lines. New Zealand. 
The bird figured is a male collected near New Zealand. 
This is one of the mistakes made through the acceptance of unauthenticated 
records. As will be seen from the synonymy, this bird has been accepted as a 
member of the Austrafian avifauna ever since the time of Gould, who included 
it in his Handbooh, as it “ frequents the seas between Australia and New 
Zealand.” But no one could possibly distinguish this bird from P. c. leucoptera 
on the wing, and the only record I have examined of this bird in Australia 
turned out to be Halohmna coerulea ! 
Bamsay, in his Tab. List Austr. Birds, p. 24, 1888, included it as being 
in the Austrafian Museum, Sydney. Perhaps his was an Australian-shot 
specimen, as he does not appear to have had a large collection of Petrels from 
other localities at that time. Study of the specimen may however prove 
the identification incorrect. 
In my Handlist I included Pterodrmna brevipes, Pterodroma neglecta, 
and Pterodroma gularis. I fortunately discovered there were no authentic 
records of these species in Austrafian waters before I had the Plates prepared. 
For the present they must be omitted. 
The group of small Petrels ranged around Pterodroma coohii is well marked and 
the subspecies are easily recognisable. At present the subspecies known are : — 
Pterodroma cooTcii coohii Gray 
leucoptera Gould 
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. . New Zealand. 
East Australia. 
nigripennis Rothschild . . Kermadec group. 
axillaris Salvin . . . . Chatham Islands, New Zealand. 
defilippiana Gigl. and Salvad. Western South America. 
longirostris Stejneger . . Japanese Isles. 
The nomenclature is not confused, the only matter needing attention at all 
being the status of P. velox Solander. Gray ranged it under his own P. coohii ; 
later Bonaparte concluded it was better referable to P. leucoptera Gould. 
In the Ornith. Miscell., Vol. I., p. 230, 1875, Salvin introduced Solander’s 
diagnosis as follows : — 
“Proc. velox supra a cinereo nigricans subtus nivea pedibus caeruleis 
digito externo nigricante Mscr. Hab in Oceano australi. 
“ Kuhl refers this drawing [No. 16, Lat. 48° 27' Long 93°], which is only a 
pencil-sketch, to Prion turtur. I think however that it more properly belongs 
to Halobcena coerulea, though Solander’s character, ‘ supra cinereo nigricans,’ 
hardly applies. 
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