BROAD -BILLED PRION. 43 



with a large amount of black tipping to the tail, and a strong blue wash on sides 

 of body and with a distinctly smaller and more compressed bill. Culmen (exp.} 

 22 mm., width of bill 10, wing 180, tail 82, tarsus 30. 



Immature. Similar, but smaller, especially with a much weaker bill. 



Nestling. Unknown . 



Nest. In crevices of rock or under the densely matted stems and roots of pig- 

 face weed. 



Egg. Clutch, one ; pure white, surface dull ; axis 41-43, diameter 30-33. 



Breeding -season. October, November, and December. 



Distribution and forms. Apparently round the Sub-antarctic Circle. Six 

 subspecies have been named, thus : P. t. turtur (Kuhl) from East Australian Seas ; 

 P. t. brevirostris (Gould) from " Madeira " (?) probably breeding in the South Atlantic, 

 smaller than preceding with a shorter, more robust bill ; P. t. ealoni Mathews 

 from Kerguelen Island, with a longer, heavier bill ; P. t. solanderi Mathews, from 

 west coast of South America, with the same wing measurement but with a longer 

 bill than in the typical form ; P. t. huttoni Mathews from the Chatham Islands 

 and (?) the mainland of New Zealand, with a stronger bill and longer wing than the 

 East Australian form ; and P. t. crassirostris Mathews, from the Bounty Islands,, 

 larger still and with an extremely powerful bill as compared with other races. 



Genus PACHYPTILA. 



Pachyptila Illiger, Prodr. Mamm. et Av., p. 274, (pref. April) 1811. Type (by subsequent 



designation, Salvadori, Omit. Pap. e Mol., Vol. III., p. 467, Dec. 1882) : Procellaria vittata 



Gmelin. 



? Prion Lacepede, Tabl. Oiseaux, p. 15, 1799 (Dec.). Indeterminable. 



? Priamphus Rafinesque, Analyse Nat., p. 72, 1815. New name for "Prion Lac." c/. Auk, 



Vol. XXVI., p. 50, Jan. 1909. 



Prion Lesson, Manuel d'Orn., Vol. II., p. 399, June 28th, 1828. Type (by monotypy) : 



P. vittata Gmelin. 



Small Petrels with a very broad bill, with short nasal tube ; the rami of the 

 under mandible divergent and enclosing a distensible pouch which is unfeathered ; 

 the nail of the upper mandible is small and weak, and separated from the short 

 nasal tube by a long flattened space ; the lateral plates are extended and flattened 

 so that they present a horizontal surface rather than a vertical one ; its breadth 

 at the widest part more than half the length of the chord of the culmen ; as a matter 

 of fact, very nearly two-thirds ; inside the upper mandible on each side is a row of 

 comb-like lamellae which extend the whole length of the lateral plates. 



The wing has the first primary the longest and the tail, consisting of twelve 

 feathers, is long and wedge shaped. The feet are of medium length, and slender. 



34. Pachyptila vittata. BROAD-BILLED PRION. 



Gould, Vol. VII., pi. 55 (pt. xvi.), Sept. 1st, 1844. Mathews, Vol. II., pt. 2, pi. 92, July 

 31st, 1912. 



Procellaria vittata Gmelin, Syst. Nat., Vol. L, pt. n., p. 560, April 20th, 1789 : New Zealand. 



Procellaria forsteri^ Latham, Index Ornith., Vol. II., p. 827, before Dec. 9th, 1790. New 



name for Procellaria vittata Gmelin. 



Procellaria latirostris Bonnaterre, Tabl. Encycl. Meth. Ornith., Vol. I., p. 81, 1791 : New 



Zealand. 



Prion magnirostris Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc. (Lond.), 1862, p. 125, August 1st : New Zealand. 



Prion australis Potts, Ibis, 1873, Jan., p. 85 : New Zealand. 



Prion vittatus gouldi Mathews, Birds Austr., Vol. II., pt. 2, p. 211, July 31st, 1912 : Bass 



Straits, Victoria. 



Prion vittatus missus Mathews, ib., p. 212 : near Perth, South-west Australia. 



DISTRIBUTION. Southern Australian Seas. (The New Zealand subspecies has occurred 

 off New South Wales.) 



