32 A MANUAL OF THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 



grey ; throat and under-surface of the body white ; the long under tail -co verts 

 ash-brown with pale edges ; axillaries and under wing-coverts also ash-brown, some 

 of the latter have pale edges ; bill perfectly black on the ridge, changing to horn 

 colour on the hook and having a black line down the middle of the lower mandible, 

 widening out on meeting the unguis, which is dull horn colour, remainder of bill 

 yellow ; legs and feet greyish -flesh colour, shaded with dark on the heel and on the 

 outer sides of the tarsus and toes ; interdigital webs yellowish with grey edges, 

 iris dark brown. Total length 425 mm. ; culmen (exp.) 45, wing 335, tail 112, 

 tarsus 55. 



Adult female. Similar to adult male. 



Nest. Cup -shaped structure, in a large chamber at the end of a burrow. 



Egg. Clutch, one ; pure white ; axis 70 mm., diameter 50. 



Breeding -season. October to December. (Macquaric Island.) 



Distribution and forms. Round the Antarctic Circle, and at present no well- 

 defined subspecies can be determined. 



Genus PRIOCELLA. 



Priocetta Hombron et Jacquinot, Comptes Rendus Acad. Sci. Paris, Vol. XVIII., p. 357, 

 March 4th, 1844. Type (by monotypy) : P. garnotii Hombron et Jacquinot = Fulmar us 

 antarcticus Stephens. 



Accurately this genus would rank as a subgenus of Fulmarus, with which genus 

 it agrees in detail save in the bill formation. The bill has long nasal tubes, lying on 

 top of the culmen and developed in that position, thus differing from the preceding 

 in a character probably of family value. The wing is long and the first primary 

 longest. The tail consists of fourteen feathers, and is rounded and more than one- 

 third the length of the wing and nearly three times the length of the tarsus. The 

 tarsus is weak and not strongly laterally compressed, and much longer than the 

 culmen. 



Coloration blue-grey above, white below. 



22. Friocella antarctica. SILVER-GREY PETREL. 



Gould, Vol. VII., pi. 48 (pt. xxxv.), Dec. 1st, 1848. Mathews, Vol. II., pt. 2, pi. 82, July 

 31st, 1912. 



Fulmarus antarcticus Stephens, in Shaw's Gen. Zool., Vol. XIII., pt. I., p. 236, Feb. 18th, 



1826 : Cape Seas. 



Procellaria glacialoides Smith, Illus. Zool. S. Africa, pi. 51, July, 1840 : Cape Seas. 



Priocetta garnotii Hombron et Jacquinot, Comptes Rendus Acad. Sci. (Paris), Vol. XVIII., 



p. 357, March 4th, 1844 : Nomen nudum. 



Thalassoica polaris Bonaparte, Consp. Gen. Av., Vol. II., p. 192, 1857 (after Oct. 1st) : Norn. 



nud. 



Procellaria smithi Schlegel, Mus. Pays-Bas, Vol. VI., Procell., p. 22, July 1863. New name 



/or P. glacialoides Smith. 



Priocetta antarctica addenda Mathews, Austral Av. Rec., Vol. II., pt. 7, p. 125, Jan. 28th, 



1915 : New Zealand Seas. 



DISTRIBUTION. East Australian Seas. Two specimens in Melbourne Museum, collected 

 at Queenscliff in December 1882. 



Adult male. Upper-surface, including the mantle, back, wings, and tail blue- 

 grey, becoming paler and inclining to white on the hind-neck ; bastard-wing dark 

 grey, some of the feathers white on the inner webs ; primary -co verts dark grey 

 with pale tips ; primary-quills dark grey with whitish tips, the greater portion of 

 the inner webs white, inner primaries paler grey towards the base ; secondaries grey 

 on the outer webs and white on the inner ones, the innermost secondaries like the 

 back ; middle tail-feathers like the back ; the outei ones white on the inner webs. 



