(ESTRELATA MOLLIS. 



(SOFT-PLUMAGED PETREL.) 



i.Procellaria melanopus, Gm. Syst. Nat. i. p. 562 (1788). 



Procellaria mollis, Gould, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. xiii. p. 363 (1844). 



Cookilaria mollis (Gould), Bp. Consp. Gen. Av. ii. p. 190 (1855). 



Fhantistes mollis (Gould), id. Compt. Eend. xlii. p. 768 (1856). 



JEstrelata mollis, Gould, Handb. B. of Austral, ii. p. 453 (1865). 



Fulmarus [Cookilaria) mollis (Gould), Gray, Hand-1. of B. iii. p. 107. no. 10897 (1871). 



(Estrelata mollis (Gould), Salvin, Ibis, 1877, p. 480. 



(Estrelata philippi (nee Gray), Saunders, P. Z. S. 1880, p. 164. 



Figurce notabiles. 

 Gould, B. of Austral, vii. pi. 1.; Reichenb. Syst. Av., Natatores, pi. xxv. figs. 2606-7. 



Ad. corpore supra schistaceo-cinereo, capite saturatiore : plumis frontalibus albido marginatis : plaga ante- 

 oculari nigricanti-cinerea : alis nigro-fuscis : Cauda cinerea, rectricibus lateralibus albido lentiginosis : 

 Joris, gula et corpore subtus pure albis, pectoris lateribus cinereis : hypochondriis cinereo lentiginosis : 

 rostro nigro : tarso, digitis ad basin et membrana interdigitali dimidio basali carnescenti-flavidis : 

 pedibus aliter nigris : iride fusca. 



Adult Male (Funchal, August 6th). Upper parts slate-grey, the head rather darker; feathers on the 

 forehead margined with white; a blackish-grey patch in front of and below the eye; wings blackish 

 brown, much darker than the back ; tail grey, the lateral rectrices freckled with white ; lores, throat, 

 and underparts white; sides of the breast grey; flanks freckled with grey; under tail-coverts white: 

 bill blackish; tarsus and basal portion of feet yellowish flesh-colour, the remainder blackish; iris 

 dark brown. Total length about 13 inches, culmen 1*3, wing 10'4>, central rectrices 4"65, lateral 

 rectrices 3 - 25, tarsus 1"4. 



The Soft-plumaged Petrel inhabits the southern seas down to Kerguelen Land, and ranges as far 

 north in the Atlantic as Madeira, where several examples have been obtained by different 

 collectors ; and though it has not been found breeding so far north, it is by no means improbable 

 that it may yet nest on some of the islands near Madeira or the Canaries. I have 

 received a specimen from Padre Ernesto Schmitz, of Funchal, Madeira, and am indebted to 

 Mr. J. J. Dalgleish for the loan of another, which was taken on the Ilho de Baixo, off Porto 

 Santo, in July 18S9. Mr. Dalgleish also remarks (Ibis, 1890, p. 386) that, as he was informed 

 by Professor Newton, there are in the Cambridge Museum two specimens obtained some 

 35 years previously from the Desertas by Mr. Robert Frere. It occurs off the coasts of 

 South Africa, and is, Dr. Sharpe says (B. of S. Afr. p. 766), " common along the southern coast 

 of Cape Colony to the eastward. It is found far out at sea, and its flight is peculiarly rapid 



3l 2 



