with descriptions of new species. 363 



where it was tolerably abundant, and which differs from the last 

 in being of a larger size, having much longer wings and a grayer 

 face, may be identical with the P. macroptera of Smith, and I 

 therefore retain it under that appellation with a mark of doubt, 

 in preference to assigning it a new name. 



Procellaria Solandri, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc. March 26, 

 1844 (Robust Black Petrel), n. sp. — Head, back of the neck, 

 shoulders, primaries and tail dark brown ; back, wing-coverts and 

 upper tail-coverts slate-gray, each feather margined with dark 

 brown ; face and all the under surface brown, washed with gray 

 on the abdomen ; bill, tarsi, toes and membranes black. 



Total length 16 inches ; bill If ; wing 12 ; tail 5~ ; tarsi | ; 

 middle toe and nail 2f . 



This is a remarkably robust and compact bird. 1 shot a single 

 individual in Bass's Straits on the 13th of March 1839. M. Nat- 

 terer thought that it might possibly be identical with the bird 

 figured in Banks's drawings, and to which Dr. Solander has affixed 

 the term melanopus, an opinion in which I cannot concur ; 1 have 

 therefore named it in honour of that celebrated botanist. The 

 specimen above described may possibly prove to be not fully 

 adult, as the dark colouring of the under surface only occupies 

 the extreme tips of the feathers, the basal portions of which are 

 snow-white. 



Procellaina leucocephala, Forster. — This very fine species in- 

 habits all the Australian seas, and doubtless, from its great powers 

 of flight, extends its range round the world. I observed it in 

 nearly all parts of the ocean from the Cape of Good Hope to Van 

 Diemen's Land ; it is a most conspicuous bird when on the wing, 

 but is so shy and wary that it is all but impossible to procm'e 

 specimens, even though a boat be lowered for the purpose. A 

 single specimen only graces my collection, which 1 shot during 

 my passage from Van Diemen's Land to Sydney, Peb. 20, 1839. 



Procellaria mollis, n. sp. — Adult. Crown of the head and all 

 the upper surface slate-gray, the feathers of the forehead mar- 

 gined with white ; wings dark brown ; before and beneath the 

 eye a mark of brownish black ; face, throat and all the under sur- 

 face pure white, interrupted by the slate-gray of the upper sur- 

 face advancing upon the sides of the chest, and forming a faint 

 band across the breast ; centre tail-feathers dark gray ; outer fea- 

 thers grayish white, freckled with dark gray ; bill black ; tarsi, 

 base of the toes, and basal half of the inner interdigital mem- 

 brane pale fleshy white. 



Total length \Z^ inches ; bill 1^ ; wing 9| ; tail, cuneiform, 5 ; 

 tarsi If ; middle toe and nail \^. 



The young diffiers in having all the under surface dark gray, 

 and the throat freckled with gray. 



