35G OCKANITININ-K. 



Order TUBINARES. 

 Family PROCELLARIID^. 



Sub-family OCEANITININ^. 



Pelagodroma marina. 



■\viii'ri:-FA('ED s'ruKM petrel. 



Procrllariii, marina, Latli., Ind, drii., Vol. II., p. 820 (1790). 

 TJialaxKulroma marina, Gould, Hds. Austr., fol. Vol. VII., |il. 01 (1S48). 

 Pidayoilroriia frpgata, Gould, ifandlik. Bds. Austr., Vol. II., p. 482 (1865). 



I'flaijoilnmia marina, Salvin, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol. XXV., p. 3G2 (1896); Sharpp, Hatul-1. 

 Bds., Vol. I., p. 122 (1899). 



Adult iM.\le. — Crown, uf the head dark ashi/yrei/: //le feathers in Jronl and below the eije, and 

 lite ear-coverts sUyhthy darker ; forehead, /ores, and a broad, irreyidar streak over the eye anil extending 

 above the ear-coverts, pure ivliite : hind-neck and upper part of the back dugky-grey surrounded by a 

 greyish-brown band crossing the tipper iving-coverls and inclnding the scapulars ; quills blackish or 

 blackish-broivn, the extreme bases of the iving-coverts of the innermost secondaries whitish, and increas- 

 ing ill extent toivards outermost primaries : loirer back and rump diiski/grey, passing into a clear 

 greg oil the upper tail-coverts ; tail-feathers blackishbroivn, greyish at the base; chin, all the imder 

 surface and the under tail-coverts pure white ; feathers on the sides of the fore-neck grey. Total 

 length in the jlesh 7-5 inches, nnng li-2, inner tail-feathers ..'-S, outer back-feathers o'l, bill 0-75, 

 tarsus IS. 



Distiihiition. — Eastern, Southern and Western Australian and Tasmanian Seas, Islands of 

 Bass Strait, New Zealand. 



OVEK thirty species of this order have been recorded from one part or another of the 

 Australian and Tasmanian Seas, and yet only nine species have been found breeding. 

 Much confusion too has e.xisted regarding their correct identification. This is owing chiefly to 

 the different colours given to them by various writers, parts seem to fade, in fact so rapidly does 

 a change take place after death, in the colour of the bill, legs and feet, that it is impossible to 

 correctly identify them by this means, which frequently form a chief feature in the distinguishing 

 characters of a species. Unless one carefully notes the colours of these parts while the bird is 

 living or directly after it is shot, it is utterly misleading to attempt to record them with any 

 degree of certainty a few hours afterwards. 



Of the little Stormy I'etrels none is more widely known in Australian and Tasmanian waters 

 than I^clii<j,odi'oma manna. Its range extends throughout the Eastern, Southern and Western 

 Australian and Tasmanian Seas, and it also occurs in New Zealand. 1 noted this species during 

 a voyage from Sydney to Hobart in December, 1907, as it half-ran, half-flew, gently feathering 

 the waves for miles, in the rear of the vessel. It was first seen when opposite Kiama, its 

 numbers increasing as Gabo Island was reached ; at the eastern entrance to Bass Strait its 

 numbers decreased until the Schouten Islands on the north-east coast of Tasmania were sighted, 

 and, although rather common in Tasmanian waters and the islands of Bass Strait, it was not 

 seen so often as when near Gabo Island. On returning from Launceston to Melbourne, it was 

 noted near the Tamar Heads, and again on the following morning, when passing through The 

 Kip, and near (Jueenscliff, in the near vicinity of which is Mud Island, where a large hatching 



