PROCELLARIDJE. 357 



The young male is beautifully mottled, and the female is 

 generally of umber-Brown, with the chin and sides of the 

 head clear white. 



The singular, rigid tail-feathers of this Duck will serve to distin- 

 guish it from any of the other species inhabiting South Africa. It is 

 found at Verloren Vley ; and Mr. Dumbleton informs me he shot a 

 specimen at Victoria. Dr. Smith states that it dives with great 

 facility. 



In the winter of 1858, great flights of these birds, and of Fuligula 

 JBrunnea, appeared in the neighbourhood of Cape Town, and were shot 

 in considerable numbers on the Cape Flats, and on all the vleys of the 

 neighbourhood. Since that date only a few stray specimens have 

 made their appearance at odd times ; and it may be reckoned as one of 

 our scarcest ducks. 



The Fourth Family, PROCELLARID^B, 

 or Petrels, 



have the bill more or less lengthened, straight, more or less 

 compressed and grooved, as if composed of several pieces, 

 with the tip strong, arched, suddenly hooked and acute, and 

 the nostrils tubular and exposed. 



The Sub-Family, PROCELLARIN^E, or Petrels 



Proper, 



have the nostrils placed in the basal portion of the culmen, 

 tubular, and generally opened in front. 



Genus PUFFINUS, Brisson. 



Bill as 'long as or shorter than the head, slender, and 

 much compressed, and grooved obliquely on the sides ; the 

 tip lengthened, arched, suddenly hooked, and acute ; the 

 lower mandible somewhat shorter than the upper, with the 

 apical margin and gonys equally curved with the upper, the 

 latter angulated beneath, and the sides longitudinally grooved ; 

 the nostrils basal, elevated above the culmen, opening obliquely 

 in two tubes placed side by side ; wings long, slender, some- 

 what acute, with the first quills the longest ; tail moderate 

 and rounded, composed of twelve feathers ; legs moderate, 

 with the apical part of the tibia naked ; tarsi compressed, and 

 equal in length to the middle toe ; all the toes long, the outer 

 equal with the middle one, the inner shortest, and the lateral 

 toes margined exteriorly by a narrow membrane. 



