Okder PROCELLARIIFORMES.J 



[Family PEOCELLARIIDiE. 



H 

 FREGETTA MELANOGASTEll. 



(BLACK-BELLIED STORM-PETREL.) 



Fregetta melanogaster (Gould), Buller, Birds of New Zealand, vol. ii., p. 239. 



No further specimens have been, to my knowledge, recorded in New Zealand. 

 The following is from an entry in my diary for 1894 : — 



21st February.— Lat. 43° 20' S., long. 41° 14' B. Several Dlomedea exulans, and one Diomedea regia— 

 distinguishable at almost any distance by its perfectly white head and neck and the large amount of white on 

 the wings — were in attendance to-day. There were also some Dove Petrels {Prion desolatus), and fully a dozen 

 Black-bellied Storm-Petrels (Fregetta melanogaster). The last-named species is very active on the wing, flies 

 high and in wide circles, a manner of flight very different from that of the other species of Storm-Petrel 

 already noticed. It seems to be decidedly gregarious in its habits, whereas Oceanites oceanicus is a solitary 

 species, being generally seen singly or in pairs. During the day, several of the Sooty Albatros {Phoehetria 

 fuliginosa) followed us, and I noticed that this species sometimes sails in couples, which D. exulans never 

 does, nor indeed, so far as I am aware, any other species of Albatros. 



i 1 



PUFFINUS GAYIA. 



(FORSTER'S SHEARWATER.) 



Puffinus gavia, Forster ; Buller, Birds of New Zealand, vol. ii., p. 236. 



I obtained a specimen of this apparently rare Petrel (an adult male) from Circle Hill, about 

 twelve miles from Milton, in the provincial district of Otago, in the month of July ; then an adult 

 female from Cape Farewell ; and, later on, half-a-dozen more from the Nelson district, shortly 

 before leaving New Zealand. Although at certain seasons of the year very numerous off our 

 coasts, extremely few specimens are to be met with in our local museums and other collections. 

 The single example which I took to England with me, in 1886, was quite unique, as no specimen 

 of this bird then existed in Mr. Salvin's splendid collection of Petrels, or even in the British 

 Museum. 



I received several fresh specimens from Mokohinu Island. Bill blackish-brown, changing to 

 grey on lower mandible ; legs and feet yellow, changing to blackish-brown on outer side of tarsus 

 and along the edge of outer toe ; claws and interdigital webs black. 



We have at length discovered the breeding-place of this species. I find that these birds 

 resort in large numbers to Stephen's Island, in Cook Strait, for the purpose of reproduction ; and, 

 through the kind offices of Mr. Lyall, the lighthouse-keeper there, I obtained six eggs. They 

 are of a rather narrow ovoido-conical shape, perfectly white, and differing appreciably in size, the 

 largest of the series measuring 2'45 in. in length by 1'45 in. in breadth, and the smallest measur- 

 ing 2'20 in. by 1*45 in. A nestling, obtained in the Hauraki Gulf on the 8th November, was 

 covered with very long and thick down of extremely soft texture, and dark slate-grey, on the 

 upper parts ; down thick and close, and of a paler grey, on the under parts, fading to whitish on 

 the crop and fore-neck. Black feathers just beginning to appear on the wings. 



There are two examples of this bird in the Canterbury Museum ; but, so far as I am aware, 

 the species is not represented in any other local collection. 





