| OCR Text |
Show 1893.] PETRELS FROM THE KERMADEC ISLANDS. 753 <E. mollis, Cheeseman (fide Buller), Trans. N. Z. Inst. vol. xxiii. p. 225 ; Buller, Trans. N . Z. Inst. vol. xxiv. p. 85; not of Gould. T w o adults and one nestling from Sunday Island. Length 15-5 inches, wing 11*75, tail 4-5, bill 1-2, tarsus 1-5, mid toe 1*7. Forehead, top of the head, neck, and breast pale greyish brown, the feathers of the forehead with a darker middle spot. A patch in front of and below the eye, as well as a streak below the mandible, darker. Lores, chin, throat, and abdomen white. Back, upper surface of wings, and tail dark brown. Under surface of wings, flanks, and under tail-coverts greyish brown. Crissum white washed with grey. Primaries dark brown, the inner web white, this colour not reaching so near the tip as in (E. leucophrys, and being narrowly pointed distally, and not reaching the shaft for some distance down. Bill black. Tarsi, first joint of inner and middle toes, and the webs between them pale ; the distal portion of the feet black. The wings when folded extend about an inch beyond the tail. Nestling.-Sunday Island, Nov. 1890. The down is still on the axillary and flank feathers and the primaries are not fully grown, not reaching within an inch of the end of the tail. The bill and feet are as large as in the adult. The colours generally are those of the adult, but the lores are grey, the feathers of the forehead have no dark central spot, and the tint of the breast is greyer. The legs and feet are much the same as in the adult. It is possible that this may be the young of the next species. In both specimens the line of junction of the feathers with the base of the bill descends perpendicularly from the base of the nasal tubes nearly to the commissure and then suddenly turns backward. This bird was considered by Sir W . Buller to be (E. mollis, but that species is smaller, has the whole of the inner web of the primaries dark, and the outer tail-feathers white speckled with grey. I doubt whether (E. mollis has ever been found in the ~New Zealand seas. Dr. Finsch certainly identified a bird taken by the ' Novara' Expedition as OI. mollis, but as he also considered (E. affinis (Buller) to be the same, it is evident that, at the time, he did not know the true mollis. Gl. affinis has the inner half only of the inner web of the primaries white, and it has been identified by Mr. O. Salvin with OI. gularis (Peale). It seems to m e that Procellaria inexpectata (Forster) is the same, although it has been identified with OI. mollis by Dr. R. Bowdler Sharpe. Mr. Cheeseman informs m e that (E. neglecta is certainly the winter Mutton-bird of the Kermadec settlers, which is said to breed only on Meyer Island and other outlying rocks during tbe winter months, the young being ready to depart when the true Mutton-birds arrive at the end of August Mr. Cheeseman says that at the time of his visit (August 1887) the slopes of Meyer Island were crowded with nearly full-grown fledglings sitting at the roots of the trees. At his approach they uttered hoarse cries and endeavoured to escape by rolling down the hill, the old birds circling |
