KERMADEC PETREL. 
greater and median wing-coverts dark brownish-ash with the basal two-thirds of each 
feather white ; sides of the face, fore-neck and chest white, faintly fringed at the tips 
with dusky ; abdomen, sides of the body, flanks and thighs white, strongly tinged with 
rose-colour ; under tail-coverts with the basal half rosy-white, and the terminal half 
blackish-brown, with whitish tips ; axillaries blackish-brown, slightly fringed with greyish- 
white. Bill black, eyes dark brown, feet black and very light grey. Figured. Collected 
on Mount Gower, Lord Howe Island. 
Nest. A large structure, placed above ground. 
Egg. Clutch one, pure white with roughish surface. Measurements: 60'1 X 46, 64 x 46, 
66 X 46 mm. 
Breeding -season. October, November and December. 
“ I gather that this bird breeds only on Sunday Island, one of the Kermadec group. 
Unlike some other Petrels, it makes its nest on the surface of the ground. It sometimes 
sits under fallen logs but always in the light or even in the sunshine. 
“ It arrives on Sunday Island in August, nest building in September, when they leave the 
island for a month. The nest is a very 7 large structure and, after a month’s absence, 
becomes untidy ; after the necessary remaking the bird lays its egg towards the end of 
October, and incubation takes about six weeks. 
“ The young are tended till they are fully grown, they are then fat. The old birds leave 
them and they live on their own fat till hunger compels them to fly to sea. From the 
time the parents leave them until they are able to fly the down is lost and the young 
are fully feathered. The young leave Sunday Island towards the end of March, April, or 
even the middle of May.” 
I went through, the dark phase of neglecta with Dr. Hartert in the Tring 
Museum, but we could find no specimen with a mottled forehead; many had 
mottling in front of the eyes. This prevents melon opus from being used for 
neglecta. In the description of the bird by Latham, he says “ legs very pale, 
the webs for one-third the same, the rest to the end black.” In the plate 
of montana (I figure the type of montata not solandri) I show the tarsus 
and webs at the junction of a light colour. This is the colour of these parts 
as given on the label. So that this does not prevent the use of melgnopus 
for the Lord Howe bird. The mottling of the feathers all round the bill is 
diagnostic, and the name melanopu-s applies only to this bird. 
That a large number of birds from Lord Howe Island are said to have 
black feet is a fact; but some also have pale legs with the basal third also pale. 
The facts as shown in the next article are new, and explain that the bird’s 
original home was Norfolk. 
16 
