MONOGRAPH OF THE PETRELS. 



The classification here adopted will be found almost identical with Salvin's, 

 and, indeed, with the exception of a slight alteration of some of the keys to the 

 species, as little as possible has been done to deviate from his work. 



The chief sources whence Salvin derived the material for his Catalogue were 

 enumerated in the Introduction to that work, but since 1896 considerable additions 

 to the National Collection have been made through the several expeditions sent 

 to the Antarctic regions, amongst which I may mention the voyages of the 

 "Discovery," the "Southern Cross," the "Scotia," and the cruises of the "Valhalla," 

 as well as the expedition sent to the Hawaiian Islands by the Hon. Walter Rothschild ; 

 these together have considerably increased our knowledge of the distribution of the 

 Petrels. 



I am only too well aware of the many imperfections in this Monograph, but truly 

 I may say that no pains have been spared in collecting all the information possible 

 both from published accounts and from observers direct, and if the result now obtained 

 should prove of assistance to future students of the Tubinares I shall feel that I have 

 not laboured in vain. 



Mr. Pycraft, a high authority on the subject, has given his views in the 

 Introduction as to the position the Order should occupy in the systematic 

 classification of birds. He has added a summary of his examination of the osteological, 

 anatomical and external characters, and it is satisfactory to find that he arrives at 

 much the same conclusion as Garrod, Forbes, Milne-Edwards and Huxley, placing 

 the Petrels near the " Steganopodes " and " Herodiones," quite apart from the Gulls and 

 Terns. I should like to take this opportunity of tendering him my sincere thanks 

 for the trouble he has taken in preparing this essay, as well as for the many hints he 

 has given me throughout the progress of this work. 



I have also much pleasure in acknowledging the assistance afforded me by 

 my friends and colleagues in various parts of the world. I am specially grateful 

 to the Hon. Walter Rothschild for having placed the whole of his fine collection 

 of Petrels at my disposal for examination, as well as for his advice on several 

 important points, and to Dr. Hartert, the Curator of the Tring Museum, I am also 

 under obligation for much assistance. My thanks are due to Mr. W. Eagle Clarke, 

 of the Edinburgh Museum, who has lent me the coloured drawings of the soft parts 

 of many Petrels made by Dr. W. S. Bruce during the Scottish Antarctic Expedition, 

 as well as for his valuable notes in the " Ibis " and elsewhere. I must not omit 

 to mention the help which my old friend Count Salvadori has rendered me, more 

 particularly by the loan of the new species procured during the voyage of the 

 " Magenta." Dr. Reichenow kindly lent me his type of Diomedea platei, from the 

 Berlin Museum, and I am thus able to give a figure of it. Mr. T. Parkin has also 

 sent me many notes of birds observed by him during his voyage in the Southern 

 Oceans. I must also express my indebtedness to Dr. Peringuey, Director of the 



