35 
Species 
Percent 
Rumbe: 
Storm Petrel (Leach) 
0.8 
15 
Bulwer Petrel 
0.7 
l4 
Frigatebird sp. 
0.7 
13 
Miscellaneous 
0.5 
• 10 
t 
Small Pterodroma 
0.2 
k 
\ 
Red-tailed Tropicbird 
0.2 
k 
Tropicbird sp 
0.1 
2 
Red-footed Booby 
0.1 
2 
Common Roddy 
0.1 
2 
White-capped Noddy 
0.1 
2 
100 
1992 
A fairly clear-cut pelagic division with typically land dependent 
forms (Boobies, Frigates, Common and White-capped Noddies) accounting for 
only 1 percent of the total. The sighting of a flock of 32 Blue-gray 
Noddies in such a-pelagic region is of some interest and is discussed 
under the species accounts. 
This transect lends itself well to an interpretation in terms of zoo- 
geographical regions• As mentioned in the interisland discussion ohere 
are significant differences in the major constituents of tne avifauna 02 
the Phoenix and'Fiji Islands, i.e., replacement of the oooty Tern/ Blue- 
faced Booby association by the White-capped Roddy/Red-footed Booby associa¬ 
tion, and recognizable racial dissimilarity in Fairy Tern (and probaoly 
other species which I am not aware of, i.e., Sooty Tern, Whioe-capped^ 
Roddy,, etc.). Over the 600 miles or so separating the two faunal reg^o^s 
a transition zone is crossed. The nature 01 this buffer zone is 01 in¬ 
terest. Three general regions then would be expectable when going fro^i 
the Phoenix Islands to the Fiji Islands, and indeed the data collected 
demonstrates three distinct types of avifauna: 
1. Phoenix Island Fauna 
2. Transition Fauna 
3. Fiji Island Fauna 
Phoenix Island Fauna: Leaving Hull early in the morning of ohe 
Sooty Terns were very abundant but diminishing during the entire day 
(100+ miles), Frigatebirds (8 of the entire sections 13 )> ^ Blue -gray 
Roddy, Common Roddy, White-capped Roddy, Bulwer Petrel, Fairy Tern, ana 
Red-tailed Tropicbird were the other species recorded that day. On tne 
return section a similar list was recorded south of the Souoherxx Grid, 
west of the Phoenix Islands on 15-W February; Sooty Tern, Bulwer Petrel, 
Frigatebirds, Fairy Tern, Wedge-tailed Shearwater (2 only). 
Fiji Island Fauna: On 6 February, around the Isles de Horne, Wedge- 
tailed Shearwaters were common (40$), Fairy Terns also common (37>), Sooty 
Terns were present at a moderate level (11$), and White-tailed Tropicbiras 
were regular (5$). Also recorded were several terns thought to be Brown¬ 
winged, a possible Tahiti Petrel, and a Red-footed Booby* 
