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Show 1877.] DR. O. FINSCH ON BIRDS FROM NIUAFOU ISLAND. 787 tenebrosus, Natt. Under-tail coverts black with narrow white tips ; the middle row with their shafts white. Exactly like specimens from the Palau group and M'Kean's Island (type of P. dichrous, F. & H.) ; the latter has the white on the base of the lateral under tail-coverts more extended. b. Specimens from Madagascar (Vienna Museum). Under tail-coverts of a uniform white. c. Specimens from Bourbon in the Leyden Museum (labelled in Temminck's handwriting Puffinus obscurus 2 > Temm. Man. d'Orn.). Like the foregoing, but the lateral under tail-coverts fringed with dusky on the outer web. d. Specimens from Mauritius (Coll. Newton). Lateral under tail-coverts on the whole outer web dusky. e. Specimens from Cape Florida (Deppe, Berlin Museum, P. obscurus, Audub., and type of P. auduboni, Finsch). "Longest lateral under tail-coverts uniform dusky, the anterior lateral under tail-feathers on the outer vane black, on the inner white." /. Specimen (s. n. obscurus ?) from Mauritius (Coll. Newton). " Under tail-feathers dark brown, with white tips, exactly like Palau specimens." g. Specimens from Viti (Puffinus, sp. ? Finsch, P. Z. S. 1872, p. 112, and Mus. Godeffr. 1S/5, viii. p. 45, note). "Under tail-coverts uniform smokj'-black, with hidden white at their bases. These notes will convince every one that the black or white under tail-feathers forms no specific character, and even less so the more or less extent of the black along the rictal line, which sometimes (according to the preparation of the skin) is cut off at the under margin of the eye, sometimes runs a little further down. P. obscurus has, between the tropics, a wide distribution in the Atlantic and Pacific regions, but has not yet been observed along the coast of Europe, as has been maintained by Temminck, Schlegel, and others. Its nearest ally, P. anylorum, may be distinguished by its larger size and lighter coloration. On this species Mr. Hiibner remarks:-"The Teiko lives on a small island, where during daytime it sleeps in holes in the rocks. I obtained my specimens when rowing just before daybreak in a canoe round the islands. We watched when the birds left their holes and, becoming confused by the glare of a torch, allowed us to catch them by hand." 20. PHAETON CANDIDUS, Briss. Native name Tavaki, Hiibner. One old female (November 1876). |