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Show 786 DR. O. FINSCH ON BIRDS FROM NIUAFOU ISLAND. [Nov. 20, 18. GYGIS ALBA (Sparrm.). Native name Tala, Hiibner. One old male (October 1876). The island Niuafu is a new locality for this widely distributed species. " This species also lays but one egg, in a shallow hole on a horizontal branch of a tree, without any other material."-Hiibner. 19. PUFFINUS OBSCURUS (Gm.). P. dichrous, F. & H. Ornith. Central-Polyn. p. 244; Finsch, Journ.Mus. Godeffr. Heft viii. 1875, p. 44; iA.ih.Puffinus^A (Viti). P. dichrous, obscurus, auduboni, and sp. ? (from Viti), Finsch, P.Z.S. 1872, p. 108-112. Native name Teiko, Hiibner. Male and female (October 1876), in every respect like specimens from Palau ; the under tail-coverts are black, more extended in the male, with faint white tips. Eostr. a Alt. Long. Dig. Alee. Caudce. Culm. rict. basis. tars. med. in. lin. in. lin. lin. lin. lin. lin. lin. 7 2 2 11 12 15 3£ 16 15£ d 7 5 3 2 12 16 ... 16 16 $ For several years I have paid special attention to the Procel-lariidse, among the numerous members of which a good many still remain obscure generically and specifically ; and none have troubled me more than the Procellaria obscura of Gmelin, described originally nearly a hundred years ago by Latham from Christmas Island. In m y former notes on this subject I have endeavoured to show that under this name were confounded about four species, nearly allied but differing in the coloration of the under tail-coverts and in the extent of the black and white on the cheeks. I thought it certain that there were at least two distinct species-one with black under tail-coverts (Puffinus dichrous, F. & H.), from the Pacific, the other with white under tail-coverts (the true P. obscurus, Gm.), from Madagascar. (Cf. Finsch, P.Z.S. 1872, pp. 108, 110, and Journ. f. Ornith. 1874, p. 208.) Since m y last publication on this subject I have had the pleasure not only of examining one of Latham's types in the Vienna Museum (P. tenebrosus, Natt.), hut also a series of specimens from the Palau group, together with others from Mauritius, Bourbon, and Madagascar, kindly lent to me by Dr. von Pelzeln and Professor Newton. The careful examination of this material, richer perhaps than any one has before had in aid of his studies, convinces me that the coloration of the under tail-coverts forms no distinctive character, as there exist all phases of graduation, from specimens with the under tail-coverts pure white to such as have these parts partially or nearly uniform black. The following notes taken of series of skins will prove this to be the case. a. Latham's type from the Leverian Museum (now in the Vienna Museum), said to be from King George's Sound. Type of P. |