476 PROCELLARIID.E MAJAQUEUS 



Length (in the flesh) 21-5 ; wing 14-50 ; tail 5-25 ; culmen 1-65 ; 

 tarsus 2-5 ; middle toe 3'0. Nestlings are covered with slaty-grey 

 down and the chin patch is not assumed till later. 



The amount of white on the throat and cheeks varies consider- 

 ably with different individuals, even from the same localities ; as a 

 rule it is most developed in Australian examples, where a band 

 of white extends right across the forehead. These have been 

 considered to represent a distinct species. 



Distribution. The Cape Hen is found throughout the Southern 

 Ocean, including the coasts of South Africa, Tasmania, New 

 Zealand and Chili. It is one of the commonest birds in Table Bay, 

 and has been found northwards as far as Great Fish Bay, near 

 the southern border of Angola, in about 17 S. lat., where it was 

 met with by Professor Vanhoffen, the naturalist of the German 

 Deep-Sea Expedition. In the other direction Mr. Brown tells me 

 it is not uncommon in Algoa Bay, while Mr. Swinburne has 

 frequently observed it in the roadsteads of East London and 

 Durban. North of this it was noticed by Peters on the Mozambique 

 coast, according to Finsch and Hartlaub. 



Habits. One of the commonest birds about the South African 

 coasts, though not, as a rule, seeu except at sea, the Cape Hen can 

 be always at once recognised by the white patch on its chin. It 

 is resident on our coasts throughout the greater part of the year, 

 though the majority of the birds leave our shores in December and 

 January for breeding purposes. 



The flight is very Albatros-like and a pair may be watched for 

 some time sweeping to and fro across the wake of a vessel without 

 any appreciable movement of the wings, which appear to keep 

 perfectly horizontal until the turn is made, when the one tip is 

 depressed and points straight downwards and the other points 

 straight up to the sky. Occasionally they settle on the water to 

 pick up refuse thrown from the ship, and when rising flap their 

 wings slightly in order to get under way again. The natural food 

 consists of cuttle fish, the beaks of which are frequently to be found 

 in their stomachs, and fishes. Hall states that they also eat kelp 

 or seaweed, as he found traces of this in their stomachs. Like other 

 Petrels the Cape Hen has a very strong odour of a somewhat 

 musky character. 



Kerguelen and the Crozet Islands are the best known breeding 

 haunts of this Petrel, Kidder, Moseley, Eaton and Hall have 

 all given accounts of its nidification. A long burrow, from two 



