Townsend's shearwater Townsend's shearwater The Townsend's shearwater, "Puffinus auricularis", is a rare seabird of the tropics from the family Procellariidae. Its relationships are unresolved. Its closest relatives are probably, but not certainly, the Hawaiian shearwater ("Puffinus newelli") and possibly the Manx shearwater ("Puffinus puffinus") (Austin, 1996; Austin "et al.", 2004). It formerly contained the former as a subspecies and was long considered a subspecies of the latter. The relationship of the Rapa shearwater, "P. myrtae" in regard to these species are also in need of research; this taxon was until recently placed in "P. assimilis" (Austin "et al.", 2004), but now raised
Ron Scarlett the New Zealand owlet-nightjar, the Scarlett's duck (which was named by Storrs L. Olson), and the Hodgens' waterhen. The Scarlett's shearwater ("Puffinus spelaeus") described in 1994 by Richard N. Holdaway and Trevor H. Worthy is named in his honour too. Ron Scarlett belong to the founders of the New Zealand Archaeological Association which was established in 1954. He was also a member of the Ornithological Society of New Zealand where he has frequently written contributions for the quarterly scientific journal, "Notornis". In 1996 he was awarded an MBE for his services to science. Scarlett died at age 91 on 9