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Show 1878,] COLLECTED B Y H.M.S. ' C H A L L E N G E R . ' 739 pedition, five are males and three females. They thus offer an opportunity of testing the view advanced by Mr. Sharpe as to the supposed sexual difference in the size of the bill existing in these birds1. In these specimens there is no tangible difference between the bills of the sexes ; and as the opposite sexes of P. banksi, as shown by the two ' Challenger * specimens, are also alike as regards the size of the bills, doubts may fairly be raised whether the great difference observable in the size of the bills in these birds is a sexual character at all. PRION BANKSI. Pachyptila banksi, Smith, 111. Z. S. Afr. Birds, pl. 55. Pseudoprion banksi, Coues, Pr. Ac. Phil. 1866, p. 166. a. Male. Marion Island. "Eyes brown." 6. Female. " Caught at sea near Crozets." Without attempting to decide the question as to how many species of Prion exist, I use the name P. banksi for these birds, as their bills agree most nearly with that of the type of P. banksi in the British Museum. PELECANOIDES URINATRIX. Procellaria urinatrix, G m . Syst. Nat. i. p. 560. Pelecanoides urinatrix, Coues, Pr. Ac. Phil. 1866, p. 190; Sharpe, Zool. Kerg., Birds, p. 14. a. Male. Kerguelen. " Eyes dark grey." b. Male. Betsy Cove, Kerguelen. Obtained January 1874. c. Male. Christmas Harbour, Kerguelen. d. Male. Betsy Cove, Kerguelen. e-h. Females. Kerguelen. i. Kerguelen. j. Young. Kerguelen? PELECANOIDES GARNOTI. Puffinuria garnoti, Less. Voy. Coq. Zool. pl. 46. Pelecanoides garnoti, Coues, Pr. Ac. Phil, 1866, p. 190. 639. Female. 1 c Harbour, Messier Channel. 640. Male? J . " Eyes hazel. These birds and another one which was put in spirit were found dead. Two were picked up by the boat in which Captain Maclear and I went, floating on the surface of the water ; and the third was picked up by the galley on the rocks. They were quite fresh ; the bodies were very thin. " Their stomachs were filled with small leaves. It looks very much 1 Latham seems to have been the first author who mentioned this supposed sexual difference in Prion. After describing P. vittatus (Syn. iii. p. 414), he adds :- " The female has the same plumage ; but the bill, though greatly exceeding that of any other Petrel, is scarcely more than half the breadth of that of the " male!' |