560 



AVERAGE MEASUREMENTS. 



TOTAL LENGTH ......... 10*5 in. 



WING ......... 7'4 



BEAK ... ... ... .. 1*4 ,, 



TARSO-METATARSUS ... ... 1/5 ,, 



EGG 1-9 x 1-35 in. 



Allied Species and Representative Forms. P. obscurus, 

 widely distributed over the Tropical and Sub-tropical Seas, 

 is more sooty-black on the back and wings than P. assimilis, 

 and has the under tail-coverts blackish-brown edged with 

 white, while the shorter central tail-feathers are white ; 

 its near ally, P. persicus, which inhabits the Persian Gulf, 

 is browner on the back and wings, and possesses a longer 

 and a thicker beak. 



CAPPED PETREL. CEstrelata hcesitata (Kuhl). 



Coloured Figures. Dresser, ' Birds of Europe,' vol. viii, pi. 618 ; 

 Lilford, ' Coloured Figures,' vol. vi, pi. 64. 



The Capped Petrel, which has been recorded chiefly 

 from the West Indies, has on one occasion been obtained 

 on British soil. The specimen was captured alive by a boy 

 on a heath at Southacre near Swaffham in Norfolk, in 

 March or April, 1850. " Although exhausted, it had strength 

 enough remaining to bite the hand of its captor, who there- 

 upon killed it" (Saunders). It came into the possession of 

 the late Mr. Newcome, of Hockwold Hall, near Brandon, 

 who skinned and mounted it (Newton, ' Zoologist,' 1852, 

 p. 3691). 



DESCRIPTIVE CHARACTERS. 



PLUMAGE. Adult male nuptial. Top and back of head, 

 blackish-brown ; hind-neck, white ; cheeks, greyish ; back, 

 scapulars, and wings, dark brown ; upper tail-coverts, white ; 

 tail-feathers, whitish, broadly banded terminally with brown, 

 except the central ones which are dark brown throughout ; 

 forehead, chin, throat, sides and front of neck, breast, 

 abdomen, and under tail-coverts, white. 



