MONOGRAPH OF THE PETRELS. 



of the genus by the whitish area of the under wing-coverts, which have dusky-brown 

 or blackish shaft-stripes. This Shearwater breeds in southern latitudes, and afterwards 

 ranges into the North Pacific and North Atlantic Oceans. It was first figured, in the 

 Banksian Collection of Drawings, by Sydney Parkinson and George Forster, under 

 the names of Nectris fuliginosa and Procellaria fuliginosa, but these names were not 

 published at the time. 



This is the " Dark Grey Petrel " of Captain Cook's narrative of his Voyages, 1772- 

 1775 (Vol. I., p. 258), and is likewise the " Grey Petrel " of Latham (Gen. Syn., III., 

 pt. 2, p. 399). The latter author says that the specimen described by him was in the 

 Leverian Museum, and was the " size of a Jackdaw ; length 14 or 15 inches ; bill 2 inches 

 long, and brown ; the whole plumage black or sooty ; the under wing-coverts white, 

 with black shafts ; the wings rather exceed the tail in length ; the fore-part of the 

 legs greenish-blue." He states that the species inhabits the Southern Hemisphere, 

 from 35 to 50°. 



It is a species of large size, with the wings 10.5-12.1 inches in length. Salvin in 

 his " Key " says that they measure not less than 12.5 inches, but in his description 

 (Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., XXV., p. 387) he gives the wing as 12 inches, which is a more 

 exact dimension. 



Of P. griseus we have no record in the Pacific Islands, but Buller says that it is 

 common off the coast of New Zealand, breeding on the islands of Kapiti, Karewa, and 

 on the Rurima rocks, also on the Kaimanawa Ranges, as well as in the hills behind 

 Wellington. Other nesting places are Whale Island, the south-east coast of Otago, and 

 on Stewart's Island (Birds N. Zeal, 2nd ed., II., pp. 232-233). 



Specimens from the Snares Islands are in the Rothschild Museum, obtained by 

 Mr. Danneford and Mr. H. H. Travers. The species occurs on the Chatham Islands 

 (Hutton, Ibis, 1872, p. 248), and it was procured on the Auckland Islands by the 

 Antarctic Expedition (Salvin, I.e., p. 388), and during the voyage of the " Discovery " 

 by Dr. Wilson (Rep. Nat. Antarctic Exped., II., Aves, p. 80 (1907). 



P. griseus was obtained in the Cape Seas by Sir Andrew Smith, and the late C. J. 

 Andersson observed it off the mouth of the Orange River from May to September, while 

 a specimen from Katumbella, in Benguela, procured by Dr. Ansorge, is in the Rothschild 

 Collection. Dr. Lucan and M. Petit record it from Landana, near the mouth of the 

 Congo. 



Although not yet observed in the Mediterranean Sea, the Sooty Shearwater occurs 

 off the Portuguese and French coasts. 



Mr. Howard Saunders (Man. Brit. Birds, 2nd ed., p. 739) calls attention to the 

 fact that for many years P. griseus was mistaken for the young or a dark form of 

 P. gravis, and consequently some difficulty arises as to the identification of the earlier 

 specimens recorded in Britain. He considers, however, that though rarer than P. gravis, 

 authentic instances of the capture of the Sooty Shearwater in our seas have been recorded, 



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