Notes on Tubinares, Including Records Which Affect the A
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58 MURrH¾,Notes on Tubinares. Jan.Auk NOTES ON TUBINARES, INCLUDING RECORDS WHICH AFFECT THE A. O. U. CHECK-LIST. BY ROBERT CUSHMAN MURPHY. 1. Thala.•.•arehe ehlororhyneho.• (Gmelin).YELLOW-NOSED •OLLYMAWK. The first North American record of this subantarctic albatross is basedupon a skinin the AmericanMuseum of Natural History (collectionof Dr. L. C. Sanford,No. 9835,). The specimenis an adult of unknown sex. It was collected near Seal Island, off MacbiasBay, Maine, on August1, 1913,by Mr. ErnestO. Joye, subsequentlycoming into the possessionof Mr. Allen L. Moses and, finally, that of Dr. Sanford. Seal Island is Canadianterri- tory, and sincethe localityin whichthe birdwas killed is on the internationalborder, south of Grand Manan, the recordconstitutes an addition to the local avifauna of both New Brunswick and Maine. The specimenclosely resembles others collected by the writer in the South Atlantic Ocean. The fact that its sex was not determined decreases the value of measurements, which are, however,as follows: Wing 482; tail 186; culmen 116; tarsus 78; middle toe with claw 114 min. Thalassarchechlororhynchos is of circumpolardistribution in the southern hemisphere. Its Atlantic breeding grounds are presumablyin the "Tristan da Cunha Subarea,"as recently definedin Dr. RobertoDabbene's admirable paper on the petrels and albatrosses of the South Atlantic. • Sufficient material is not available for a determinationof the subspeclficstatus of the Atlantic bird, or of its relationshipwith the "Thalassogeronexi- mius" of Verrill. 2. Calonectriskuhlii kuhlii (Bole). MEDITERRANEANSHEAR- WATER. While examiningseries of North Americanexamples of the large shearwaterdescribed by Cory as Puffinusborealis (Bull. Nuttall Orn. C1.Vol. 6, p: 84, 1881),the writerhas occasionally encountered • E1 Hornero, Vol. 2, No. 3, pp. 157-179, 1921. Vol.1922XXXIX] J MvRrnv,Notes on Tubinares. 59 remarkably small specimens,the differencein size, especially noticeablein the bill, being so great as to appear to represent somethingmore than individual variation. Four such birds in the American Museum of Natural History (collection of Dr. Jonathan Dwight) were taken in Long Island waters by Dr. William C. Braislim That their aberrantaspect among the series of ordinary Cory's Shearwatershas been previously noted is evident from interrogation marks accompanyingthe entries in Dr. Dwight's catalogue. The four specimensreferred to are fully adult, molting birds. A comparisonof the skins with Mediterranean Shearwatersfrom the southern coasts of France and Spain indicates that the peculiarLong Island birds belongto the samerace. The resem- blanceextends to the diagnosticwhite markingon the inner web of the outer primaries,a characterfirst pointedout by Harterr and Ogilvie-Grant (Novitates Zoologicae,Vol. 12, p. 97, 1905) who wrote: "in P. kuhlii kuhlii a large white mark or somewhite mottling extendsbeyond the under wing-coverts,sometimes to beyondthe middle of the feathers." The same authors showed that this characteris not sharedby the larger race of P. kuhlii inhabiting the Azores, Canaries, Madeira, etc. It is likewise lackingin North Americanspecimens of Cory's Shearwater. The recordsand measurementsof the four Long Island birds, togetherwith similar data for typical examplesof Cory's shear- water are as follows: Calonectriskuhlii kuhlii (Boie) Wing Tail Culmen Tarsus Middle toe with claw 45827 c? Dwight Coil., Mon- tauk Point. N.Y., Aug. 15, 1907. 342 129 47 54 68 45828c? Dwight Call., Man- tauk Point, N, Y., Aug. 15, 1907. 329 129 48 51 62 45825 c? Dwight Coll., Off Amityville, N.Y., Oct. 4, 1902. 314 122 45 49 61 45826 9 Dwight Coil., Off Amityville, N.Y., Oct. 4, 1902. 322 117 46 49 65 60 M•RrRY,Notes on Tubinares. Jaa.Auk Calonectriskuhlii borealis(Cory) Wing Tail Culmen Tarsus Middle toe with claw 8975 (2 Sanford Coll., New York Bay, Sept. 9, 1918. 358 136 57 56 74 24449 (2 Dwight Coll., Narra- gansett Bay, R. I., Sept. 29, 1886. 355 133 56 55 72 64709 (2 Amer. Mus. Coll., Off Amagansett,N.Y., Oct. 20, 1887. 347 133 56 57 70 24450 9 Dwight Coll., Narra- gansett Bay, R.I., Sept. 29; 1886. 349 133 54 56 70 Cory's descriptionand published measurementsof the type specimenof "Pu•nus borealis"make it clearthat it wasthe larger race which he collected and named. The type locality of the "Procellariakuhlii" of Bole, the form now added to the known avifaunaof North America,is the coastal waters of Corsica. Its breedingrange, so far as determined,is confinedto the Mediterranean, the Adriatic, the Aegean,and the Sea of Marmora, but during its wanderingsit passesGibralter and entersthe pelagicrange of Calonectriskuhlii borealis,sometimes as is evident,reaching the coastof North America. The Mediter- ranean Shearwater should therefore be included in the next edition of the A. O. U. 'Check-llst.' Americancollectlons of Cory's Shearwatersought, moreover, to be examined for additional specimensof the Mediterraneanrace. 3. Oceanodroma hornbyi (GR•Y). HORNBY'SPETREL. Oberholser(Auk, Vol. 34, pp. 465, 466, 1917)has shown that this petrel must remain in the genusOceanodroma. He alsostates his reason•for the opinionthat the speciesshould be reinstatedin the regularlist of North Americanbirds. For many yearsafter G. R. Grayhad describedHornby's Petrel, in 1853, the originalskin in the British Museumremained unique. The type bore no label, but was believedto have comefrom the northwest coast of America. In 1887 (fide Godman,'Monogr. Petrels,' p. 36, 1907) E. W. Nelson reported that he had seen numbersof I-Iornby'sPetrels "both in May and October,while crossing a part of the Pacific, Vol.1922XXXIX] J Mv•P•¾,Notes on Tubinares. 61 some500 miles broad, borderingthe Aleutian chain." Doubts were subsequentlycast upon the identification, however, by Henshaw. In 1895 the National Museum of Chile, at Santiago, obtained two immaturespecimens, including a nearly full-grownbird with only a few tracesof grayish-whitedown still clingingto its belly. These came from an inland region, east o• Taltal. They were not recognizedas Oceanodromahornbyi, and were describedanew by R. A. Philippi as "Procellaria(Oceanires) collaris" (Verhand- lungendes deutschenwissenscha•tllchen Vereins zu Santiagode Chile, Vol. 3, Pt. 1, pp. 11-13, plate). Philippi's accountstates: "Das Exemplar yon Sturmschwalbe,dessen Beschreibung ich hiermlt gebe,is dadurchbesonders merkwiirdig, dasses intuitten des Landes,5stlich yon Taltal, in Gesellschafteines ganz jungen VSgelchens,welches noch reit dem VollenFlaum bekleidetist, todt gefundenwurde. Unser Museumverdankt es H. Dr. Darapsky. "Der vogelhat ganzdie GrSsseund Gestaltder iibrlgenSturm- schwalben,yon denener sehrlelcht durch folgende Diagnose unter- schieden werden kann." The Latin diagnosiswhich follows, the recordedmeasurements, and the full page,monochrome plate, made from a crayondrawing, leave no room for doubt that the specimendescribed was Oceano- dromaho•nbyi notwithstanding minor discrepanciesin the amount of white pictured on the face and throat. The figure was drawn from a poorly mountedbird, which doubtlessaccounts for slight distortionsof the colorareas. Both of the specimenshave been seenby Dr. Frank M. Chapmanduring visits to Santiago. The descriptionof Procellariacollaris, and a subsequent,slightly more detailedaccount by Philippi (•ide infra), were apparently overlookedby Godman,for the specificname collarlsappears neitherin the indexnor the synomymyo• the 'Monographo• the Petrels'A During the Brewster-SanfordSouth American expedition of the AmericanMuseum of Natural History,Mr. Rollo H. Beckcollected 56 specimensof Oceanodromahornbyi in .the offshorewaters of the The Chilean specimens are referred to again by Quijada in the Catalogo ilustrado i descriptivo de las Aves Chilenas, Bol. Mus. l•ac. Chile, Vol. 1, 1•o. 8 (pp. 82, 83 of the repaged extract), 1911. 62 Mr•gru•c,Notes on Tubinares. IJan.Auk Peruviancoast, and proved that the •pecies isa commonbird in this region. Mr. ]3eck'sspecimens were all taken during June 1913,between the approximatelatitudes of Ancon(11 ø 47' S.) and Cerro Azul (13ø 4• S.), in watersfrom 15 to about200 milesfrom the shore. He first notedthe speciesin the vicinity of Hormigas de Afuera Islets, 38 sea miles west of Callao, on June 4. On June 6, whenabout 200 milesoff shore,he obtainedthe first specimens, along with numerousexamples of Oceanodromamarkhami and other petrels. Thereafterhe saw 0. hornbyifrequently, chiefly beyond25 milesfrom shore,often feedingand comingto his bait in groupsof a scoreor so. His notesof June25, on whichdate he collected30 miles off Cerro Azul, contain the observationthat in early morning, while the sun was still low, the white breastsof Hornby's Petrelsshone like silver as the birds darted back and forth amongother species. After June27 he changedhis field of operationsto the islandsand inshorewaters of the Pisco Bay region,and thenceforthsaw the speciesno more. All of ]3eck'sspecimens, the majorityof whichstill remainin the Brewster-SanfordCollection, are birds which had restingsex organs. Most of the individualswere completing, or had recently completed,the molt andrenewal of the flightfeathers. In the same month of a later year, June 1916, Dr. Frank M. Chapmanalso observed Hornby's Petrel along the Peruviancoast. He has kindly suppliedme with the followingextract from his notes of June 23, 1916: "Leave Piscoat 7:15, make the ]3oqueronin the face of a stiff breeze. At 8 A.M., we were about ten miles off shore,and the oceanswarmed with Petrels;a large,black Pu•nus, and a smaller one,