AUSTRALIAN FAIRY-PRION. 
As apparent confirmation I have seen three birds from Solander’s type- 
locality, and these are all referable to the present species. Kuhl’s bird was 
described from the Paris Museum, and no locahty was given. Bonaparte 
described {Consp. Gen. Av., Vol. II., p. 194, 1857) Halobcena typica thus : 
“ H. typica Bp. {Procellaria turtur Less. ! Pr. velox ? Banks) Icon Ined 16 — 
Kuhl Mon. Procel. p. 143, sp. 14 t. 11 f. 8. Mus. Paris ex Insula Waigiou a 
LabiUardiere. Minor (Long. 8J poll) ex toto griseo-cana ; humeris, remigum 
rectricumque apicibus, nec non macula hinc inde dorsali nigricantibus ; subtus 
et in lateribus alba : rostro brevi, humili compresso.” 
This would appear to be the identical bird described by Kuhl, and hence the 
selection of a type-locahty is a puzzhng matter. 
In the Gmnptes Rendus Sci., Vol. XLII., p. 768, Bonaparte introduced 
HalobcBna, noting as species H. ccerulea Gmelin and H. typica Bp. The latter 
was a nude name at that time, and consequently H. coerulea Gmelin becomes 
the type by monotypy, otherwise Halobcena would have to be used for 
Pseudoprion, and Zaprium for Halobcena, as Coues pointed out. For Halobcena 
typica as described above is undoubtedly a Pseudoprion, and the diagnosis 
of Halobcena also points to such a bird, while Bonaparte’s description of 
Halobcena ccerulea commences, “ Major : inter Priones et Halobaonas quasi 
media.” Yet in the Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., Vol. XXV., Salvin placed Halobcena 
typica in the synonymy of H. ccerulea, and in this he was followed in the 
Monograph, which is undoubtedly incorrect. 
The Island of Waigiou is not the place a species of Prion would be likely to 
wander to ; and it is known that many of the localities were confused in the 
Paris Museum, through misdirection of parcels of specimens; especially that 
Southern Australian species were credited with North Australian localities and 
vice versa. The only course open seems to be the designation of Southern 
Australia— Bass Strait, as the type-locahty of P. turtur Kuhl. By so doing we 
must sink P. ariel Schlegel as a synonym, but we also get rid of H. typica 
Bonaparte. 
If this view were not accepted, we should have to call the Australian form 
P. turtur typicus, as the latter name has priority over P. ariel Schlegel. 
In the Proc. Zool. Soc. (Lond.) 1855, p. 88, Gould described his Prion 
brevirostris as foUows : “Upper surface delicate blue; edge of shoulder, the 
scapularies, outer margins of the external primaries and the tips of tb\e middle 
tail feathers black ; lores, sides of the head and all the under surface white, 
stained with blue on the flanks and under tail coverts ; bill light blue, deepen- 
ing into black on the sides of the nostrils and at the tip, and with a black line 
along the side of the under mandible ; feet light blue, the interdigital membrane 
flesh- colour. 
219 
