

PROCELLAEIID^ PRION 491 



Wing 7.75 ; culmen 1-3 ; width of bill at base 0-65 to 0-80. 



Distribution. This Petrel, which appears to be very doubtfully 

 distinct from P. banski, is found throughout the Southern Indian 

 Ocean and New Zealand seas; it breeds on St. Paul near Kerguelen 

 and on the Chatham Islands. It has been recorded by Layard and 

 Swinburne from Cape seas, but even should it be found to be really 

 separable from P. banski, it is probable that the Blue Petrels seen 

 by these observers were really referable to the latter species. 



't^M^rfntJ^ faA*^~^(iij^ 



800. Prion desolatus. Narrow-billed Blue Petrel. 

 ^ 



Procellaria clesolata, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i, p. 562, (1788). 



Procellaria turtur, Kuhl, Bcitr. p. 143 (1820) ; Smith, III. Zool. S. Afr. 

 Aves, pi. 54 (1840) ; Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 361 (1867). 



Prion turtur, Pch. Novara Reise, Vog. p. 147 (1865). 



Pseudoprion turtur, Gurney, in Anderssorfs B. Damaral. p. 352 (1872). 



Prion desolatus, Sharpe, Phil. Trans, vol. 168, p. 137, pi. vii, figs. 

 8-10 (1879); id. cd. Layards B. S. Afr. p. 769 (1884); Swinburne, 

 P. P. Phys. Soc. Edin. ix, p. 199 (1886) ; Salvin, Cat. B. M. xxv, 

 p. 434 (1896) ; lieichenoiv, Vog. Afr A, p. 32 (1900). 



" Whale Bird " of sailors, a name also applied to the other species of 

 the genus. 



Description. Adult. Resembling P. banksi, but with a much 

 narrower bill ; the sides of the upper mandible are nearly straight 

 and not out-curved, and the lamellae underneath are small and not 

 visible when the bill is closed. 



Iris black ; beak and legs pale blue. 



Length 11-75 ; wing 7'25; tail 3'75 ; culmen 1-2; width of the 

 bill at the base -40; tarsus 1-2 ; middle toe 1-2. 



Distribution. The Narrow-billed Blue Petrel has much the 

 same range as the other species of the genus, being found in the 

 Southern Ocean, chiefly between the 30th and 60th parallels ; 

 it doubtless often wanders further south and further north, and 

 was met with at the Antarctic Ice barrier, south of Kerguelen by 

 the " Challenger." I have not come across any notice of its 

 occurrence east of New Zealand in the South Pacific. 



This Petrel is not uncommon in the Cape seas, where it has been 

 met with by the Novara Expedition and by the Earl of Crawford, 

 and it is occasionally driven ashore by heavy gales ; Andersson has 

 seen it on the coast of German South-west Africa and in Table Bay, 

 while the South African Museum has two examples, one obtained 

 near Cape Town on June 19, 1894, the other picked up dead on 



