Order ANSERES.] [Eam. PROCELLARIIDjE. 



PROCELLARIA GOTJLDL 



(GREY-FACED PETREL.) 



Pterodroma macroptera, Gould, Handb. B. of Austr. ii. p. 449 (1865, nee Smith). 

 Mstrelata gouldii, Hutton, Trans. N.-Z. Inst. ii. p. 79 (1869). 

 Procellaria gouldi, Hutton, Cat. Birds N. Z. p. 47 (1871). 



Ad. fuliginoso-niger, subtus brunnescentior : fronte, loris, et facie antica albicanti-ciuereis : rostro et pedibus 

 nigris : iride nigra. 



Adult. General plumage sooty black, tinged with brown on the underparts ; forehead and parts surrounding 

 the base of the bill whitish grey, shading gradually into the darker plumage. Irides, bill, and feet 

 black. Total length 17 inches; wing, from flexure, 12; tail 5; bill, along the ridge 2, along the edge 

 of lower mandible T75 ; tarsus 1*5 ; middle toe and claw 2 - 5. 



Remarks. The form of this Petrel is rather slender ; the tail is long and cuneate ; and the wings, when folded, 

 extend about half an inch beyond it. 



1 have taken the above description from the type specimen in the Auckland Museum. Captain 

 Hutton, who first distinguished the species, observes : — " It is very common on the Tasmanian and 

 New-Zealand coasts, and is undoubtedly the bird that Mr. Gould refers to as the dark Petrel with 

 a grey face, which he shot off the coast of Tasmania, and which he suggests might be Procellaria 

 macroptera of Dr. A. Smith. According to that author, however, the bird he called P. macroptera 

 has no grey face, but a white circle round the eye and reddish-brown legs and feet, in all of which 

 respects it differs from the present bird." 



An egg of this species, in the Auckland Museum, which was obtained on Katikati Island, in 

 the Gulf of Hauraki, is of a regular oval form, measuring 2 - 6 inches in length by T75 in breadth, 

 and is of a dirty white colour. 



