19. GARRODIA NEREIS (Gould), 



(GREY-BACKED STORM-PETREL.) 



(Plate 14.) 



Thalassidroma nereis, Gould, P. Z. S., 1840, p. 178. 

 Procellaria nereis, Bp., Consp. Av., II., p. 196 (1856). 

 Oceanites nereis, Cab., J. f. 0., 1875, p. 449. 



Garrodia nereis, W. A. Forbes, P. Z. S., 1881, p. 735 ; Salvin, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., 

 XXV., p. 361 (1896). 



Nigricans, uropygio et supracaudalibus clare cinereis : scapularibus et tectricibus 

 alarum albo marginatis : gutture et prsepectore nigricantibus : corpore reliquo subtus 

 albo. 



G. nereis was discovered by Gould on his expedition to Australia in 1839, between 

 Hobart Town and Sydney, when he procured four examples, and he subsequently 

 observed it in considerable numbers near the entrance to Bass's Straits, and later, on his 

 homeward voyage between New South Wales and the northernmost part of New 

 Zealand. It is known to breed there, as it has been found by Mr. Reischek on the 

 Guano Island in the beginning of November, and by Mr. Percy Seymour on Tomahawk 

 Island, Otago, on the 18th January (Buller, Birds New Zealand, 2nd ed., p. 247). The 

 Earl of Ranfurly found the species on the Auckland Islands, where Captain Hutton 

 asserts that it breeds (Buller, Birds New Zealand, Suppl., I., p. 98). It certainly does so 

 on the Chatham Islands, as Mr. Travers obtained young birds there (Buller, I. c), and 

 Dr. H. O. Forbes procured the egg (Ibis, 1893, p. 542). 



This Petrel was found by both the British and American naturalists who 

 accompanied the " Transit of Venus " expeditions to Kerguelen Island. A female 

 was captured by the Rev. A. E. Eaton in Royal Sound on the 6th November, but 

 this was the only one observed, and he did not find any nest (Sharpe, Phil. Trans., Vol. 

 CLXVIIL, p. 129). Dr. Kidder, however, was more fortunate as he found the birds 

 common at the American station at Molloy Point, and discovered the first eggs on 

 the 12th December (Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., II., p. 31, 1875). The nests were placed 



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