Order PROCELLARIIFORMES.] 



[Family PROCELLARIIDiE. 





GAREODIA NEREIS. 



(GREY-BACKED STORM-PETREL.) 



Garrodia nereis (Gould), Buller, Birds of New Zealand, vol. ii., p. 247. 



The late Captain Fairchild brought me a specimen from Cape Farewell Lighthouse, where it had 

 killed itself by striking against the lantern at night. 



Mr. Henry Travers brought specimens of this Storm -Petrel (adult and young) from the 

 Chatham Islands. The nestling is covered with sooty-grey down on the upper parts, and the 

 young bird assumes the colour of the adult at the first feathering. 



Mr. Townson's collection contains an adult which was caught at a bushman's camp, some 

 miles inland of Westpost, where it was flitting around the wood-fire at night. 



In the male the dark plumage extends well down on the breast and under the bend of 

 the wing, the line across being well marked. In the female it extends even further down, but it is 

 mixed with greyish-white, especially on the throat ; under surface of wings white, changing 

 black towards the outer edge ; middle part of wings and upper tail-coverts grey. The sexes are 

 exactly of the same size — wing from flexure 5' 5 in. ; tarsus 1*3 in. The tibia is bare for half an inch. 



Captain Hutton found this small Petrel breeding on the Auckland Islands. 



PELAGODROMA MARINA. 



(WHITE-FACED STORM-PETREL.) 



Pelagodroma marina (Latham), Buller, Birds of New Zealand, vol. ii., p. 248. 



I am indebted to Mr. C. H. Robson for a note stating that he had obtained an egg of this species, 

 and that, instead of being all white, the larger end is sprinkled with reddish-brown spots. He 

 is possibly mistaken in the bird, for I have obtained a number of specimens from Otago, together 

 with the skins of the birds, taken from the burrows, and in all cases the shell is entirely white. 

 The egg of Garrodia nereis (the Grey-backed Storm-Petrel) is, however, marked in the manner 

 described. He may therefore have confounded the two species. 



Mr. Macpherson records a specimen obtained on the north-west coast of England. ( ' Ibis,' 

 1891, p. 602.) 



The nestling of this species is covered with thick sooty-grey down, paler on the under parts. 

 The black tips of the primaries are the first to appear ; then the plumage of the crown, shoulders, 

 and sides of the body. A partially fledged specimen in my collection (from the Chatham Islands) 

 has the primaries very narrowly edged with white, the secondaries more so, and their coverts with 

 a broad terminal wash of greyish- white ; bill and legs black, the inter-digital webs of the latter 

 flesh-coloured. 



Dr. Forbes, who collected the eggs of this Storm Petrel in the Chatham Islands, thus describes 

 them : — 



Elliptical in shape. Dimensions — 14 in. by TO in. Ground colour, white at one end, covered with 

 fine dots of heliotrope-purple and lavender-grey, with a few of seal-brown interspersed, and at the other end 

 sparsely with vinaceous-buff. In some specimens the end is thickly dusted over with the finest vinaceous- 

 rufous dots, while on the rest of the egg they are scarcely recognisable. 



I have in my possession a newly-hatched nestling, looking like a ball of slaty-grey down, with 

 a greyish-black bill protruding. A more advanced nestling has the bill and legs black, with dark 

 quills just sprouting from the wings. 



