492 PBOCELLARIIDa: PRION 



Muizenberg beach in False Bay, on April 27, 1897, by Mr. D. E. 

 Hutchins. 



Habits. — Andersson gives some account of this Blue Petrel ; he 

 states that it but rarely settles on the water and that it does not 

 pick up refuse thrown from a ship, as do many of the other Petrels, 

 though it will occasionally follow a vessel. It is generally met with 

 in large flocks and is a powerful flyer, rising and sinking with great 

 rapidity and skimming the waves like a Swallow. It and its con- 

 geners are called by sailors " Whale Birds," one explanation being 

 that it accompanies Whales in order to secure the droppings from 

 their mouths, while others state that the name is given in con- 

 sequence of a fancied resemblance between the curious lamellae on 

 the inside of the upper mandible and the whalebone of the Whale. 



This species exists in countless numbers about Kerguelen, where 

 its breeding habits have been observed by Mr. Eaton, Professor 

 Moseley, and Mr. R. Hall. A single egg is laid at the end of 

 a rat-hole-like burrow among the Azorella plants, in about Novem- 

 ber ; at first, before the eggs are laid, both birds will usually be 

 found in the burrow ; later on, while incubation is proceeding, only 

 one, usually the female by day and the male at night ; finally, 

 when the nestling is hatched, both parents are away all day, only 

 returning at night-time. 



There are eggs in the South African Museum brought from the 

 Crozet Isles by Captain Armson ; they are white, smooth and 

 almost regular ovals, measuring about 2-0 x 1'5. 



801. Prion brevirostris. Fairy Blue Petrel. 



Prion ariel, Qould, Ann. Mag. N. H. xiii, p. 366 (1844) [nom. nud.] ; 



Salvin, Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 436 (1896) ; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 168 



(1896). 

 Prion brevirostris, Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1855, p. 88, pi. 93 ; Beiche- 



now, Vog. Afr. i, p. 33 (1900). 



Description. Adult. — Nearly similar in colour to the other 

 species of the genus, but with the crown and spot below the eye 

 hardly darker than the back ; the terminal dark band of the tail is 

 wider ; the bill much narrower and more compressed, though the 

 unguis is as large as that of the other species ; the lamellge along 

 the sides of the upper mandible are very feebly developed and quite 

 invisible when the bill is closed. 



Distrihution. — The Fairy Blue Petrel, Uke others of the genus, 



