864 Mr. J. Gould on the Procellaridse, 



This is one of the commonest birds inhabiting the South At- 

 lantic, and must have been observed by every one who has crossed 

 the line, yet strange to say, I find no description in any of the 

 older writers to which it can be referred with certainty ; in which 

 opinion my lamented friend, M. John Natterer of Vienna, who 

 had paid great attention to the members of this group, coincided. 

 The following note was attached to my specimen by him when 

 last in England : — ^^ The Procellaria lug ens of Banks^s drawings, 

 no.22? ; Procellaria grisea, Kuhl (not of Gmel.), pi. 11. fig. 9 ; does 

 not agree with Banks^s drawings, but agrees with KuhFs grisea. 

 A new name is certainly requisite, if no other can be found.^^ 



It is very abundant from the 20th to the 40th degrees of S. 

 lat. The term mollis has been suggested by the peculiar character 

 of the under plumage, which is much more dense and soft than 

 that of most other members of the group. 



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

 1844, n. sp. — Crown of the head, all the upper surface and wings 

 dark slaty black ; tail slate-gray ; greater wing-coverts slightly 

 fringed with white j face, throat, all the under surface, the base 

 of the inner webs of the primaries and secondaries, and a line 

 along the inner edge of the shoulder pure white ; bill black ; tar- 

 sus and basal half of the interdigital membrane fleshy white ; re- 

 mainder of toes and interdigital membrane black. 



Total length IS inches ; bill 1 ; wing 8|^ ; tail 4 ; tarsi 1^ ; mid- 

 dle toe and nail If. 



Nearly allied to P. mollis, but much smaller in size, and differs 

 also in the white line along the under surface of the wing, formed 

 by the white basal halves of the feathers. It breeds in great 

 numbers on Cabbage-tree Island, at the mouth of Port Stephen^s 

 Harbour, New South Wales, and is very abundant in all parts of 

 the ocean between that locality and New Zealand. 



Procellaria ccerulea, Gmel. — This bird may be distinguished 

 when on the wing from every other of the smaller Petrels by the 

 conspicuous white tips of the centre tail-feathers. It is a very 

 powerful flier, and I observed it in every part of the ocean I tra- 

 versed between the 40th and 55th degrees of S. lat., both in the 

 Atlantic and Pacific. 



As much confusion exists with respect to this species, I beg to 

 state that it is the Procellaina similis of Forster^s Drawings, no. 86, 

 and of Lichtenstein's edition of Forster's MSS. p. 59; the Pro- 

 cellaria ccsi'ulea of Gmelin, Latham and Kuhl, and the P. Forsteri 

 of Smith but not of Latham. 



Procellaria hasitata, Kuhl. Forster'sDrawings,no. 92. — This is 

 also a most powerful bird on the wing, and in its passage over the 

 ocean mmiats higher in the air than most other members of the 

 group. It enjoys so wide a range of habitat, that it may be said 



