490 PEOCBLLAEIID* PEION 



which is a white patch ; angle of the wing, lesser wing-coverts, ends 

 of the scapulars (except the extreme tips, which are white) and tips 

 of the tail-feathers, except the outer pair, ashy-black to black ; 

 below, including the lores, axillaries and under wing-coverts white 

 with, a faint wash of blue on the flanks and under tail-coverts. 



Iris black, bill black with the unguis yellow ; bill moderately 

 broad, the lamellae along the upper mandible just visible at the 

 rictus, when the bill is closed ; legs dark blue. 



Length (in the flesh) 11-5 ; wing 7-40 ; tail 4-0 ; culmen 1-25 ; 

 width of the bill at base 0-50 to 0'55 ; tarsus 1-25 ; middle toe 1-35. 



Distribution. — Banks' Blue Petrel was first described by Sir A. 

 Smith from the Cape seas, whence its range extends into the South 

 Atlantic in the one direction, and the New Zealand and Australian 

 Coasts in the other ; but there is a good deal of uncertainty about 

 the number and the distinctions between the species of this genus, 

 so that it is difficult to state their exact range with certainty. 



The present species is certainly not uncommon in Cape Seas 

 and is often driven ashore after great gales, sometimes in consider- 

 able numbers. One of those mentioned by Layard as having been 

 found at Green point (a suburb of Cape Town) in April, 1866, is 

 still in the Museum, and there are several more, recently obtained 

 in the months of June and September, by Mr. Shortridge, at Port 

 St. John's, in Pondoland; Ayres also records this Petrel from the 

 Natal Coast, where many hundreds were cast ashore in August, 

 1862, all in a very emaciated state and weak from the want of 

 food. I have not heard of its occurrence on the West Coast of 

 Cape Colony, but Kirk met with it on the East Coast in the 

 Mozambique Channel and as far north as the Seychelles. 



799. Prion vittatus. Broad-billed Blue Petrel. 



Procellaria vittata, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i, p. 560 (1788). 



Prion vittatus, Gould, B. Austr. vii, pi. 55 (1844) ; Layard, Ibis, 1862, 



p. 97; 1863, p. 249; Sliarpe, Phil. Trans, vol. 168, p. 135, pi. 7, 



figs. 3-6 (1879) ; Sivinburne, P. B. Phys. Soc. Ediiu ix, p. 199 (1886) ; 



Salvin, Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 432 (1896) ; Shelley, Bds. Afr. i, p. 168 



(1896) ; BeicJienoiv, Vog. Afr. i, p. 81 (1900). 



Description. Adtilt Male. — Very similar to P. banksi in size and 

 plumage, and only distinguished by its very much broader bill, in 

 which the lamellse of the under side of the upper mandible can be 

 seen all along when closed. 



