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EDITOR'S NOTEBOOK 
rumped Storm-Petrel has yet to be fully in- 
vestigated, but a thorough study could shed 
more light on this intriguing set of questions. 
The only banding return of a Band-rumped 
Storm-Petrel in the United States comes from 
Florida (Woolfenden, G. E., L. R. Monteiro, 
and R. A. Duncan. 2001. Recovery from the 
northeastern Gulf of Mexico of a Band- 
rumped Storm-Petrel banded in the Azores. 
Journal of Field Ornithology 72: 62-65) — thus 
apparently a Grant’s Storm-Petrel. 
For those of us who have puzzled for years 
over what we have perceived as incongruous 
“variations” in size, structure, bill shape, 
width of the “band” (white tail coverts), 
shape/extent of carpal bar, and degree of tail 
fork in this “species” off the Carolinas, it is 
some relief to read that we have probably 
been encountering multiple taxa, whatever 
their ultimate disposition on avifaunal lists. It 
is worth an aside here that Band-rumpeds 
breeding in the Galapagos and Leach’s Storm- 
Petrels in the North Pacific have also been the 
subject of proposed splits, and Black-capped 
Petrel also appears to show variation sugges- 
tive of multiple taxa (see Howell and Patte- 
son. 2008. Variation in the Black-capped Pe- 
trel — one species or more? Alula 14: 70-83). 
The other proposed split, possibly subtler 
still, is of what we in North America call Eu- 
ropean Storm-Petrel (Hydrobates pelagicus) 
into Mediterranean Storm-Petrel (H. meliten- 
sis) of the Mediterranean islands and British 
Storm-Petrel (H. pelagicus) of the Atlantic, the 
latter name somewhat unfortunate, given this 
taxon’s abundance as a breeder in Iceland. As 
the recent article in North American Birds (62: 
512-517) suggests, the slender-billed birds off 
North Carolina are more likely to be pelagicus 
than inelitensis, as would be expected, given 
the breeding ranges of these taxa. As yet, 
there is no specimen for North Am.erica, and 
the single bird captured by hand in Nova Sco- 
tia (Auk 88: 671-672) was measured with to- 
tal length 152 mm, wing 121 mm, tail 51 mm, 
culmen 11 mm, tarsus 21 mm, and mid-toe 
and claw 20 mm; some of these measure- 
ments suggest the smaller pelagicus. 
We should point out that it is possible that 
none of these proposed splits may be adopted 
on our side of the Atlantic, but they give us 
food for thought and reason to look ever more 
closely at the birds we do observe and photo- 
graph here — and abundant reason to salvage 
(with proper permit) seabirds we find dead on 
beaches or inland after hurricanes. There 
seems to be no end to new discoveries in this 
group. 
STANDARD 
ABBREVIATIONS AND 
SYMBOLS USED IN THE 
REGIONAL REPORTS 
* 
specimen collected 
+ 
bird(s) seen through end of period 
t 
written details oil file 
A.F.B. 
Air Force Base 
acc. 
accepted by records committee 
AM. 
Avian Records Committee 
b. 
banded 
B.B.S. 
Breeding Bird Survey 
B.O. 
Bird Observatory 
B.R.C 
Bird Records Committee 
C.A. 
Conservation Area 
C.B.C 
Christmas Bird Count 
CP. 
Coonty Park 
cm 
centimeter(s) 
Cr. 
Creek 
Ft. 
Fort 
G.C 
Golf Course 
G.P. 
Game Preserve 
Hwy. 
Highway 
!.(ls.) 
island(s), lsie{s) 
imm. (Imms.) 
immature(s) 
Jet. 
Junction 
juv. (juvs.) 
juvenal [plumage]; juveiiile(s) 
km 
kilometer(s) 
L, 
Lake 
mm 
mi!iimeter(s) 
m.ob. 
many (or multiple) observers 
Mt. (Mts.) 
Mount/Mountain (Mountains) 
N.A. 
Nature Area, Natural Area 
N.F. 
National Forest 
N.M. 
National Monument 
N.P. 
National Park 
N.S. 
National Seashore 
N.W.R. 
National Wildlife Refuge 
p.a. 
pending acceptance 
P.P. 
Provincial Park 
Pen. 
Peninsula 
ph. 
photographed (by + initials) 
Pt. 
Point (not Port) 
R. 
River 
R.A. 
Recreatiofi(al) Area 
R.B.A. 
Rare Bird Alert 
R.P. 
Regional Park 
R,S. 
Regional Shoreline 
Res. 
Reservoir 
Rte. 
Route 
S.B. 
State Beach 
S.F. 
State Forest 
S.G.A. 
State Game Area 
S.P. 
State Park 
S.R.A. 
State Recreation Area 
S.R. 
State Reserve 
S.W.A. 
State Wildlife Area 
S.T.P. 
Sewage Treatment Plant/Pond 
subad. (subads.) 
subadult(s) 
Twp. 
Township 
y.r. 
voice recording (by + initials) 
vt. 
videotape (by -t- initials) 
W.A. 
Wildlife Area 
W.M.A. 
Wildlife Management Area 
W.T.P. 
(Waste)water Treatment Plant/Pond 
Italics indicate name of county, parish, or municipality. 
36 
NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS 
