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Show 1893.] ON PETRELS FROM THE KERMADEC ISLANDS. 749 3. On a Collection of Petrels from the Kermadec Islands. By Captain F. W . H U T T O N , F.R.S., C.M.Z.S., Curator of the Canterbury Museum, N e w Zealand. [Eeceived June 22,1893.] (Plate LXIII.) Mr. T. F. Cheeseman, F.L.S., Curator of the Auckland Museum, very kindly sent me early in this year a collection of Petrels made in the Kermadec Islands at various times between 1887 and 1891, which contains examples of a species apparently new to science, and is of considerable interest in other respects. The information which I possess is, however, tantalizing, as it suggests several questions on the variation of species without giving full answers to them. These questions, which will be mentioned presently, could probably be answered if we knew with certainty (1) whether the two parents are always of the same colour; (2) whether the young bird always resembles its parents in plumage or whether there is considerable variation between parents and offspring; and (3) whether unicolour parents ever produce bicolour young or vice versa. In the descriptions which follow the length of the bill is that of the chord of the culmen, as used by Dr. Coues, and the length of the middle toe does not include the nail. It seems to me that these are the most accurate measurements that can be taken of the bill and toe. PUFFINUS CHLORORHYNCHUS. P. chlororhynchus, Lesson; Salvin, Ibis, 1888, p. 352; Buller, Birds of N. Z. 2nd ed. vol. ii. p. 235. P. sphenurus, Gould. P. carneipes, Cheeseman (fide Buller), Trans. N. Z. Inst. vol. xxiii. p. 226, not of Gould. There are five specimens in the collection, all of which are larger than those from any other locality which I can find recorded, as the following measurements will show. Length 18*5 inches, wing 12-75, tail 6-5, bill 1-65, tarsus 1-9, mid toe 2-2. Called the " Black Burrower " by the settlers. " It arrives in the month of October in e-eh year, often in very large numbers. It digs out burrows, often several feet in length, on the edges of the cliffs, or on the margins of inland terraces" (Cheeseman). I have seen no specimen of this species from New Zealand. PUFFINUS TENUIROSTRIS. P. tenuirostris, Temm.; Buller, Birds of N. Z. 2nd ed. vol. ii. p Nectris brevicaudus, Bonap. One specimen. Length 15 inches, wing 10-75, tad 4-25, bill 1-2, tarsus 1-9, mid toe 2-1. In addition to the slender bill and short tail, this species can be |
