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NUMBER 89 41
sis) survive. Both the Soft-plumaged Petrel {Pterodroma mollis)
and the Grey Petrel {Procellaria cinerea) are now very rare
and are believed to be breeding on cliffs away from cattle trampling.
Macgillivray's Prion, listed as Pachyptila salvini
macgillivrayi by Micol and Jouventin (1995), is rare and endangered
with 100-200 pairs, and the Diving Petrel {Pelecanoides
sp.) is very rare, with only one record of a breeding
pair. The Antarctic Tern {Sterna vittata tristanensis) breeds on
coastal cliffs, and a few Brown Skua {Catharacta skua hamiltoni)
nest inland (Jouventin, 1994; Micol, 1995).
Fortunately, St. Paul has a small rock stack, Roche Quille,
just offshore, that has remained predator free, allowing the precarious
survival of the following species of procellariiforms
that no longer breed on Amsterdam or on St. Paul: Fairy Prion
{Pachyptila turtur, 10-20 pairs), Great-winged Petrel {Pterodroma
macroptera, 40-60 pairs), and Little Shearwater {Puffinus
assimilis, 25 pairs) (Micol, 1995). The Flesh-footed Shearwater
{Puffinus carneipes), previously reported from Roche
Quille (Tollu, 1984; Jouventin, 1994), is absent there now, but
it is present on St. Paul, where Micol (1995) reported 532 pairs.
The White-bellied Storm-petrel {Fregetta grallaria) survives
on both Roche Quille and St. Paul in small numbers, and Wilson's
Storm-petrel {Oceanites oceanicus) has been found
breeding in small numbers on St. Paul (Micol, 1995). Roche
Quille has the only other known population of Macgillivray's
Prion (100-200 pairs) apart from that on Amsterdam.
The survival of several species on Roche Quille and not on
St. Paul or Amsterdam suggests that several species of storm
petrels, prions, shearwaters, and petrels have disappeared from
Amsterdam. Of the remaining 10 breeding species, eight are
now rare. Apart from the loss of several procellariiforms from
Amsterdam, the only known native terrestrial species, a
minute, endemic, flightless duck, Anas marecula (Bourne et al.
1983; Martinez, 1987; Olson and Jouventin, 1996), is extinct.
PREVIOUS INVESTIGATIONS OF THE FOSSIL FAUNA.—The
volcanic origin of Amsterdam Island has resulted in the formation
of many lava caves, the collapsed roofs of which have in
many places formed pitfall traps into which birds have fallen.
Fossil bones have been found to be abundant in these sites. The
first fossils were collected in 1955 by Jouanin and Paulian
(1960), who identified several bones from one individual as a
Wandering Albatross {Diomedea exulans). They noted two sizes
of Pterodroma (listed as Bulweria): they identified the larger
one as P. neglecta, primarily on the basis of size, and the smaller
one as P. mollis. Other species identified included Puffinus
assimilis, Pachyptila vittata, Pelagodroma marina, Pelecanoides
urinatrix, and Anas sp. Lastly, they reported a mummified
rail that "crumbled to dust," which they tentatively referred
to Crex crex (Linnaeus).
Bourne et al. (1983) examined the duck bones reported by
Jouanin and Paulian (1960) and suggested that they had some
similarity to those of a Garganey {Anas querquedula). Martinez
(1987) briefly described the collection of fossils that he made
in 1983 and 1984. He listed 17 species: one albatross, two Pro­
cellaria, three Pterodroma, two Puffinus, two Pachyptila, a
Pelecanoides, three storm petrels, a Eudyptes, a Catharacta,
and a flightless duck whose bones he described and compared
to other ducks, but which he did not name. This collection is
the subject of this paper.
The fossil sites are all lava caves (Figure 2) that vary in
length from a few meters to about 200 m (Figures 3, 4). No radiocarbon
dates for the fossils are available, and without dating
each site these would not establish the relative ages of all sites.
In their absence, however, we make the observation that all
bones were found on the surface, and many had organic remains,
including dried tissue and feathers on them, suggesting
that most are between a few hundred and a few thousand years
old.
The material was collected without retention of skeletal associations,
and, later, Martinez made a preliminary sort of it into
species by element. After most Anas and Diomedea bones were
removed for independent analysis, the collection was shipped
to the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa (MNZ)
(formerly National Museum of New Zealand) for analysis.
We describe herein the fossil fauna from Amsterdam Island,
detailing the species represented, their relative abundance, and
their size (using bone lengths) relative to that of modem populations.
Extensive comparative descriptions and mensural comparisons
were necessary to justify our specific determinations.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We thank the Institut Francais pour la Recherche et Technologic
Polaires and the administration of Terres Australes et Antarctiques
Francaises for providing logistic and financial support.
We are grateful to J. Martinez and other researchers for
collecting the material and sketching maps of the caves, to J.
Palmer for photography, and to J.A. Bartle, MNZ, for encouragement,
support, and advice during the course of the project.
The following curators generously made available specimens
in their care: J. Wombey, Australian National Wildlife Collection,
CSIRO, Canberra, Australia; J. Bailey, The Natural History
Museum (BMNH), Tring, England; and R. Coory and J.A.
Bartle, MNZ, Wellington, New Zealand. We thank A. Tennyson
for commenting on an earlier draft of the text, and S.
Emslie, D. Steadman, and S. Olson for substantive comments
that greatly improved the text.
METHODS
The Martinez collection is cataloged under numbers MNZ
S34560-S35079 in the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.
One of us (THW) examined it in 1994 and 1995 and is
responsible for all identifications, measurements, and comparisons.
Material that remained in France, including the majority
of the albatross and duck bones, was not included in the analysis.
The duck bones are now at the National Museum of Natural
History, Smithsonian Institution (USNM, housing the col-