464 Transactions.—Z oology. 
Arr. LXI.—Notes on the Antarctic Petrel (Priocella antarctica). By James 
Hector, M.D., F.R.S. 
[Read before the Wellington Philosophical Society, 25th November, 1876.] 
Tuis Petrel has been seldom met with, and the specimen I have now to 
describe was lately presented to the Museum by Mr. J. J. Buckrell, as a 
rare bird shot by him in Lat. 46° S., Long. 118° 9" E., or about 1,000 
miles west of Tasmania and in the latitude of Otago. It has not yet been 
recorded as a New Zealand bird, except that, in the ** Zool. of the Voyage 
of the ‘Erebus’ and ‘Terror, ” a figure of it is given among those from our 
colony. It is on this figure that I have to rely for the identification of the 
species, not being able to find any published description, although the 
name has been frequently quoted, as shewn in the following synonymy :— 
Procellaria antarctica, Gmelin, * Syst. Nat.," I., 565, taken from Forster’s 
“Icono ined., t. 95; Id., “ List, Gralle, ete., B.M." 168 ; Zd., 
** Zool. ‘Err.’ and ‘Terr., ” Pl. 38. 
Thelassoica (lege Thelasseca antarctica), Rich. (1853), ** Coues. P. Phil. 
Acad, 1866,” 81. 
Fulmarus antareticus, Gray, “ Hand List,” B. iii, 105. 
Priocella antarctica, Sharpe, ** App. Zool. ‘Err.’ and ‘Terr,’ 1875. 87. 
Description. —Head, neck, back, rump, scapularies, and small wing-coverts, 
dark brownish-grey, shaded off to brown on the side of the neck and on the 
throat ; outer webs and tips of inner webs of the primaries dark brown; 
quills white; wing-coverts white ; inner secondaries, secondaries, and 
coverts white, forming a distinct alar bar; tail white, with a terminal bar 
of brownish-black ; underparts white ; bill, brownish-black ; legs and feet, 
pale brownish-grey, with brown claws. 
Length, 14-4 inches ; wing from flexure, 11:8 inches ; tail, 4-9 inches ; 
bill following curvature, 1:5 inches ; lower mandible, from tip to gape, 1:8 
inches; tarsus, 1:5 inch ; mandible, toe, and claw, 2-8 inches ; hind-claw, 
:25 inch. 
This elegant Petrel should be easily recognized by the drab colour of 
its surface, broken only by the marked white band across the tail and wings. 
I am under the impression that I have seen it after heavy weather in 
Foveaux Straits. 
The species was founded on Forster's drawing taken on Cook's second 
voyage; but there are five specimens in the British Museum obtained 
during Ross's Antaretie Expedition, and I presume it is from one of them 
that the published figure was taken. 
