SPOTTED PETREL. 39 
29. Daption capensis.—SPOTTED PETREL. 
[Procellaria capensis Linné, Syst. Nat., 10th ed., p. 132, Jan, Ist, 1758: Cape of Good Hope. 
Extra-limital.] 
Gould, Vol. VII., pl. 53 (pt. xxrx.), Dec. Ist, 1847. Mathews, Vol. II., pt. 2, pl. 90, July 
31st, 1912. 
Daption capense australis Mathews, Austral Av. Rec., Vol. I., pt. 8, p. 187, March 20th, 
1913: New Zealand. 
DIsTRIBUTION.—Southern Australian Seas. 
Adult male—General colour above dark lead-grey, chequered with white on 
the back, wings, and tail; lesser wing-coverts dark lead-grey with white bases ; 
median coverts grey with white on the inner webs like the outer greater coverts ; 
inner greater coverts white with a wedge-shaped spot of grey at the tips ; marginal 
coverts and bastard-wing dark hoary-grey with pale bases ; primary-coverts dark 
grey, white at the base of the inner webs ; primary-quills blackish along the outer 
webs and at the tips, inner webs white, which colour extends on to both webs at the 
basal portion of the inner primaries ; secondaries white, tipped with slate-grey ; 
feathers of the back and scapulars, as well as those of the upper tail-coverts, white 
tipped with grey ; tail white with the apical portion blackish ; head and neck all 
round dark plumbeous-grey inclining to blackish on the occiput and becoming white 
on the lower throat ; a short white line immediately under the lower eyelid ; under- 
surface of body white with a few scattered spots of grey, particularly on the under 
tail-coverts and sides of body ; axillaries and under wing-coverts white, the marginal 
coverts plumbeous-grey ; bill and feet black ; iris dark brown, eyelids black ; the 
bare skin beneath the mandible, dusky-red. Total length 375 mm.; culmen 41, 
wing 177, tail 128, tarsus 44. 
Adult female —Similar to the adult male. 
Of three birds obtained at the same time the one described has the throat the 
same colour as the head, while the other two have the white of the under-surface 
encroaching up to the chin. Another adult example in Mathews’s collection has 
the terminal band on the tail-feathers, and many of the feathers of the wing brown 
instead of slate-black, due to wearing. 
Young in down.—Generally greyish above, greyish-white below. 
Nestling.—Slate-grey above, and paler and sooty on the under-surface. 
Nest-—Composed of a few small angular fragments of rock and a little earth, 
placed on open exposed ledges of cliffs. (Laurie Island.) 
Egg.—Clutch, one; pure white; axis 65 mm., diameter 42, 
Breeding-season—December and January. (South Orkneys.) 
Incubation-period—About forty-two days. 
Distribution and forms—Round the Sub-antarctic and Antarctic Circles. Two 
forms have been named : D. c. capensis (Linné) from Cape Seas, and D. c. australis 
Mathews, from New Zealand Seas in its darker coloration above. 
Genus HALOBAENA. 
Halobena Bonaparte, Comptes Rendus Acad. Sci. Paris, Vol. XLII., p. 768, May 1856. Type 
(by monotypy): Procellaria cerulea Gmelin. 
Zaprium Coues, Bull. U.S. Nat. Mus. No. 2, p. 34, Nov. 1875. Type (by monotypy): P. 
cerulea Gmelin. 
Small Prionitic (?) birds with long narrow bills, long wings, long tail and short 
legs and feet. The bill has a long hooked unguis about half the length of the culmen, 
the nasal tubes short ; these are placed on top of the culmen and open outwards as 
a single tube with a thin septum internally ; the latericorns are a little basally 
expanded. The under mandible has the rami divergent, the interramal space narrow 
