452 BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 



however, approaching the ship sufficiently near for a successful 

 shot, and it was equally wary in avoiding the boat with which 

 I was frequently favoured for the purpose of securing examples 

 of other species ; but, to make use of a familiar adage, " the 

 most knowing are taken in at last ; " one beautiful morning, 

 the 20th of February 1839, during my passage from Hobart 

 Town to Sydney, when the sea was perfectly calm and of a 

 glassy smoothness, this wanderer of the ocean came in sight 

 and approached within three hundred yards of the vessel; 

 anxious to attract him still closer, so as to bring him within 

 range, I thought of the following stratagem : — a corked bottle, 

 attached to a long line, was thrown overboard and allowed to 

 drift to the distance of forty or fifty yards, and kept there 

 until the bird favoured us with another visit, while flying 

 round in immense circles ; at length his keen eye caught 

 sight of the neck of the bottle (to which a bobbing motion 

 was communicated by sudden jerks of the string), and he at 

 once proceeded to examine more closely what it was that 

 had arrested his attention ; during this momentary pause the 

 trigger was pulled, the boat lowered, and the bird was soon 

 in my possession. 



The wings of the White-headed Petrel are longer and more 

 arched than those of any other species of its size and weight, 

 and it is consequently one of the boldest and most powerful 

 fliers of the ProcellaridcB. During flight the dark colouring 

 of the wing shows very conspicuously, and presents the form 

 of a W as seen in some other species : as is the case with most 

 birds of powerful flight, its legs are thin and delicate. 



Forehead, face, all the under surface, and tail white ; hinder 

 part of the head, back of the neck, and upper tail-coverts grey ; 

 back greyish brown ; wings blackish brown ; round and 

 before the eye a mark of black \ bill and irides black ; tarsi 

 and half the toes and webs flesh-white ; the tips of the toes 

 and webs black. 



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