472 BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 



Sp. 641. PRION TURTUR. 



DovE-i,iKE Prion. 



Procellaria turtur, Banks's Drawings, No. 15. 



Prion turtur, Gould in Ann. and Mag. of Nat Hist., vol. xiii. p. 366. 



Whale Bird of the Sailors. 



Prion turtur, Gould, Birds of Australia, fol., vol. vii. pi. 54. 



So much confusion exists among the species of this genus 

 of Petrels, that a very minute examination has been required 

 to identifiy those described by the older writers, and it has 

 been with no little attention and care on the part of the late 

 John Natterer and myself that we came to the conclusion that 

 the bird forming the subject of the 54th plate in the seventh 

 volume of my folio edition is the one for which the specific name 

 of turtur should be retained. Of the four species inhabiting 

 the southern seas, the present is the most delicate in colour, 

 as well as the most slender and elegant in form ; its bill is 

 much less dilated at the base, and has the laminae much less 

 developed than those of the P. banksii, to which it is nearly 

 allied, and with which it is sometimes seen in company. I 

 find by my notes that I killed four specimens off Cape Howe 

 on the 16th of April, during my passage from Tasmania to 

 Sydney ; and I have but little doubt that it traverses the 

 whole surface of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, between the 

 30th and 50th degrees of south latitude, having seen and fre- 

 quently killed specimens while sailing within those prescribed 

 limits. Sometimes it appeared in countless multitudes, but 

 more often thinly dispersed over the surface of the ocean. 

 During calms it flits over the glassy waters with a noiseless and 

 easy flight, often performing small circles, and fluttering butter- 

 fly-like over any oily substance thrown overboard, which it 

 sips off" the surface without settling ; occasionally, however, it 

 rests its buoyant and fairy little body on the waters, where it 

 reposes at perfect ease, until hunger again impels it to take 

 wing in search of food. A more vigorous and active action of 



