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Show 750 CAPT. F. W. HUTTON ON A COLLECTION OF [Dec. 5, readily distinguished by the under wing-coverts, which are greyish brown and considerably lighter than the upper wing-coverts ; while in P. chlororhynchus the upper and lower wing-coverts are of the same tint, and in P. griseus (Gm.) the under wing-coverts are rather paler grey. In P. tenuirostris the lower mandible is said to be paler in colour than the upper, but this does not show in the dried skin. This species is not uncommon in the North Island of N ew Zealand, but I have never seen a specimen from the South Island. P. griseus, on the contrary, is extremely abundant at Stewart Island and Foveaux Straits, and gets rare further north. PUFFINUS ASSIMILIS. P. assimilis, Gould; Buller, Birds of N. Z. 2nd ed. vol. ii. p. 239; Cheeseman, Trans. N . Z. Inst. vol. xxiii. p. 226. One specimen. Length 11 inches, wing 7*5, tail 3, bill 1, tarsus 1-5, mid toe 1-5. It seems that the Kermadec Island birds are smaller than those from N e w Zealand, for Sir W . Buller remarks that the bird in the British Museum obtained by Mr. John Macgillivray on Raoul Island ( = Sunday Island) is somewhat smaller than the New Zealand birds, thus agreeing with the present specimen. In N ew Zealand this species is common in the Hauraki Gulf, but I have not seen it south of Auckland. In the south it is replaced by the larger species P. gavia (Forst.), which is most abundant about Cook's Strait and diminishes in numbers both to the north and to the south. Sir W . Buller, in his ' Birds of N e w Zealand,' 2nd ed. vol. ii. p. 236, considers the bird from the Great Barrier Island which I called P. assimilis (Trans. N . Z. Inst. vol. i. p. 161) to be P. gavia, but this is not correct. The mistake, however, is m y fault, for when in m y ' Catalogue of the Birds of N e w Zealand' (Wellington, 1872, p. 79) I showed that P. gavia of Forster-which had up till then been thought to be an (Estrelata-was a species of Puffinus, I confused it with P. assimilis, although the species appear to be distinct. Of this species Mr. Cheeseman says that great numbers were breeding on Meyer Island in August 1887. They dig out burrows for their nests, often of considerable length. OZSTRELATA NIGRIPENNIS, Rothschild, Bull. Orn. Club, i. p. lvii (1893). OI. cookii, Cheeseman (fide Buller), Trans. N. Z. Inst. vol. xxiii. p. 224 ; not of Gray. I have to thank Mr. O. Salvin for this determination. Five specimens, all alike, from Kermadec and Curtis Islands. Length 12 inches, wing 9*1, tail 4-5, bill 0-9, tarsus 1-1, mid toe 1-2. These birds are rather larger than OH. defilippiana, Salvad., but they agree with it very well in colour and proportions. In New Zealand this species has been confounded with OH. cooki, from |
