482 PEOCBLLAKIIDiE OSSIFEAGA 



Shortridge, who states that these birds occasionally collect there 

 on the sea shore in flocks after rough weather. Other examples 

 from Cape seas are recorded by Layard, Hutton, Parkin and the 

 Southern Cross Expedition. 



Habits. — This Petrel is a bird of rapid and graceful flight and is 

 usually seen in small companies. It is seldom met with near the 

 coast except after very rough weather. The only definitely recorded 

 breeding place is in New Caledonia, where Mr. Layard found it 

 nesting near the summit of Mount Mou. 



Genus VI. 0S8IFRAGA. 



Type. 

 Ossifraga, Hombr. d Jacq., Compt. Bend, xviii, p. 366 



(1844) 0. gigantea. 



Bill stout and strong about as long as the head ; a few lamellae 

 along the sides of the palate, the tip of the lower mandible slightly 

 upturned, forming an angle at the gonys ; nasal tube long and 

 strong about half the length of the bill with a single opening 

 forwardly directed, the septum not reaching the aperture ; space 

 between the rami of the lower jaw feathered in the centre but 

 leaving a bare space on either side ; wing comparatively short, not 

 reaching the tail tip, secondaries usually twenty-nine in number ; 

 tail very short, slightly rounded and consisting of sixteen feathers ; 

 tarsus short, about equal to the two basal joints of the middle toe, 

 claw of hind toe well-developed; size very large; plumage sooty 

 brown or black. 



This genus, containing only a single species, is- found through- 

 out the Southern Ocean. 



795. Ossifraga gigantea. Oiant Petrel. 



Procellaria gigantea, Gmel., Syst. Nat. i, p. 563 (1788) ; Oould, B.Austr. 



vii, pi. 45 (1848); Layard, Ibis, 1862, p. 97, 1867, p. 458; id. B. S. 



Afr. p. 360 (1867) ; Sperling, Ibis, 1868, p. 298 ; Swinburne, P. B. 



Phys. Soc. Bdin. ix, p. 197 (1886). 

 Ossifraga gigantea, Gurney, in Andersson's B. Damaral. p. 354 (1872) ; 



Sharpe, ed. Layard' s B. S. Afr. p. 765 (1884) ; Green, Ocean Birds, 



p. 25, pl< V. (1887) ; Salvin, Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 422 (1896) ; Shelley, B. 



Afr. i, p. 168 (1896) ; Beichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 24 (1900) ; Vanhoffen, 



Journ. Ornith, 1901, p. 309. 

 " Nelly,'' sometimes "Leopard Bird " of Sailors, "Glutton Bird" of 

 Sealers. 



