Obdee ANSEEES.] [Fait. PEOCELLABIULE. 



OSSIFKAGA GIGANTEA. 



(GIANT PETREL.) 



Giant Petrel, Lath. Gen. Syn. iii. pt. 2, p. 396, pi. c (1785). 



Procellaria gigantea, Gm. Syst. Nat. i. p. 563 (1788). 



Procellaria ossifraga, Forst. Descr. Anim. p. 343 (1844). 



Ossifraga gigantea, Hombr. & Jacq. Voy. Pole Sud, Zool. iii. p. 148 (1853). 



Ad. schistaceo-brunnescens, facie laterali et corpore subtus paullo pallidioribus : dorso et tectricibus alarum 

 pallidiore cinereo anguste marginatis : rostro flavicanti-corneo : pedibus cinerascenti-nigris, unguibus 

 albicanti-comeis : iride nigricanti-brunnea. 



Adult. Entire plumage dull slaty brown, paler on the face, throat, and underparts of the body ; on the 

 upper parts some of the feathers are strongly tinged with chocolate-brown ; and all the feathers of the 

 back, as well as the wing-coverts, have paler greyish margins. Irides blackish brown ; bill yellowish 

 horn-colour ; legs and feet greyish black, the claws whitish horn-colour. Total length 32 inches ; 

 extent of wings 66; wing, from flexure, 18 - 5 ; tail 7"5 ; bill, to anterior edge of tube l - 75, thence, 

 following the curvature, to the tip 2, along the edge of lower mandible 375; bare tibia 1*25 ; tarsus 

 2' 75 ; middle toe and claw 5. 



Obs> Albmoes are not uncommon. 



The Giant Petrel, or " Nelly," as it is called by sailors, is by no means uncommon in our seas, 

 and occasionally ventures into the deep sounds or estuaries. Many years ago a fine specimen (now 

 in the Auckland Museum) was caught on shore by the men of H.M.S. ' Pandora,' and eventually 

 came into my possession. There is an equally fine specimen in the Canterbury Museum, col- 

 lected by Mr. J. Fuller, who informs me that he observed it with several others in the Akaroa 

 harbour following the carcass of a dead whale, and engaged in tearing off the blubber. 



It is universally dispersed over the temperate and high southern latitudes ; and Mr. Gould 

 has expressed his belief that it frequently performs the circuit of the globe, a conclusion inferred 

 from the circumstance that an albino variety followed the vessel in which he made his passage to 

 Australia for a period of three weeks, the ship often making two hundred miles during the 

 twenty-four hours. He adds : — " It must not be understood that the bird was merely following 

 the vessel's speed, nor deemed incredible when I state that during the twenty-four hours it must 

 have performed a much greater distance, since it was only at intervals of perhaps half an hour 

 that it was seen hunting up the wake of the vessel to secure any offal that had been thrown 

 overboard, the interim being employed in scanning the ocean in immense circles." He informs 



2 R 



