SOFT-PLUMAGED PETREL. 35 



Pterodroma inexpectata thompsoni Mathews, Austral Av. Rec., Vol. II., pt. 7, p. 125, Jan. 

 28th, 1915 : East Australia = Tasmania. 



DISTRIBUTION. Tasmania (visitor). One specimen preserved in Mathews's collection. 



Adult male. General colour of the upper-surface hoary-grey, with white bases 

 to the feathers, which show through the grey in many places ; the tips of the feathers 

 on the head, back, scapulars, and short upper tail-coverts dark brown or blackish ; 

 lesser and marginal upper wing-coverts, bastard-wing, primary -co verts, and outer 

 webs of flight-quills blackish-brown ; the inner webs of the last for the greater part 

 white ; median and greater upper wing -co verts and secondary -quills hoary -grey 

 with narrow white edgings on the outer webs, the inner webs for the most part white, 

 except the innermost where both webs are grey ; long upper tail-coverts and tail- 

 feathers pale slate-grey, except the two outer ones on each of the latter which are 

 mottled with white ; fore-head and sides of face, including the feathers surrounding 

 the eyes, white with minute dark tips to the feathers ; chin and throat pure white ; 

 breast, abdomen, and sides of body dusky-brown with white bases to the feathers 

 which show through and impart a mixture of brown and white, some of the feathers 

 on the sides of the body and lower flanks are barred with white and dusky-brown ; 

 under tail-coverts cream -white and reach the tip of the tail ; axillaries white, mottled 

 and barred with dusky-brown ; under wing-coverts blackish-brown, more or less 

 mottled and blotched with white ; under-surface of flight-quills for the greater 

 part white with pale brown along the shafts and at the tips of the primaries and 

 grey tips to the secondaries ; lower aspect of tail grey, the two outer feathers on 

 each sides mottled with white, almost the whole of the tail below is obscured by 

 the under tail-coverts, which are cream-white ; bill black, tarsus fleshy, feet black 

 with base of inner web whitish. Total length 283 mm. ; culmen 25, wing 251, 

 tail 93, tarsus 35. 



Adult female and Immature. Similar to adult. 



Nestling. Sooty -grey down above and below. 



Nest, Egg and Breeding-season. Unknown. 



Distribution and forms. Breeding in south New Zealand and the islands south 

 of New Zealand. A specimen was described as a new species as (Estrelata fischeri 

 by Ridgway from St. Paul, Kodiak Island, Alaska ; another of the same form from 

 the North Atlantic as Estrelata scalar is by Brewster, but breeding places unknown. 



26. Pterodroma mollis. SOFT- PLUM AGED PETREL. 



Gould, Vol. VIL, pi. 50 (pt. xxxv.), Dec. 1st, 1848. Mathews, Vol. II., pt. 2, pi. 86, July 

 31st, 1912. 



Procellaria mollis Gould, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., Vol. XIII. , p. 363, May 1st, 1844; South 

 Atlantic Ocean. 



DISTRIBUTION. West Australian Seas. (One occurrence, West Australia.) 



Adult male. Head, hind-neck, sides of neck, back, and short scapulars ash- 

 grey, becoming much paler on the upper tail-coverts and tail ; some of the outer 

 tail-feathers whitish ; the long scapulars and entire wing black with pale brown 

 on the inner Webs of the primaries ; under-surface white, sides of body dusted and 

 barred with grey ; under wing-coverts sooty-brown ; the feathers on the fore-head 

 and sides of the face have more or less white fringes ; bill black, tarsus and basal 

 third part of the feet flesh colour, the remainder black ; iris brown. Total length 

 395 mm. ; culmen 29, wing 259, tail 112, tarsus 35. 



Adult female. Similar to the adult male. 



Nest, Egg and Breeding -season. Unknown. 



Distribution and forms. Atlantic Ocean only, and the North Atlantic form has 

 been named (E.fece by Salvadori, yet the specimen recorded from Australia shows no 

 appreciable difference from typical birds. 



D 2 



