PRIOFINUS CINEREUS. 



included them in the list given above, as I do not consider the two birds to be identical. 

 Latham's description of his " Glacial Petrel " is as follows : — " Length, 19 inches ; 

 bill, If ; tube which covers the nostrils on the top of upper mandible, and end of lower, 

 black ; the edges of both are of the same colour ; the top of the head, taking in the 

 eyes, and the hind-part of the neck to the shoulders, pale bluish ash-colour ; the rest 

 of the upper-parts dusky black ; chin, fore part of neck, and breast, white ; from 

 thence to the vent, pale ash-colour ; legs and webs blue, claws black, sole of foot 

 white. Inhabits the Antarctic Circle, with many other species, chiefly found among 

 the ice " (Latham, Gen. Syn., III., Pt. II., p. 399). 



On this description Gmelin founded his name of Procellaria gelida (Syst. Nat., I., 

 p. 564), which was admitted by Latham (Ind. Orn., II., p. 822). 



The late Professor Elliot Coues in his " Monograph of the Petrels " (Proc. Acad. 

 Nat. Sci. Philad., 1864, pp. 119, 142) recognised two species of Priofinus, or, as he then 

 called the genus, Adamastor. 



One he identified as P. cinereus (Gm.) and the second, from the Antarctic Ocean 

 and the Cape of Good Hope, he called P. gelidus (Gm.). To the latter, it should be 

 noted, he added as a synonym Procellaria flavirostris of Gould, a species which is now 

 generally recognised to be a race of P. kuhli. 



The Priofinus gelidus of Professor Coues is said to have the under-surface of the 

 wings white, whereas P. cinereus has grey axillaries and under wing-coverts. No 

 example of Priofinus that I have examined has white on the upper tail-coverts, but 

 this is a well-marked feature of Pufjinus kuhli, and in this species also the axillaries and 

 under wing-coverts are white. 



The question with regard to P. flavirostris of Gould could have been settled, did we 

 but know where his type was to be found. Mr. Witmer Stone has very kindly made 

 a search for it among the Petrels of the Gould Collection in the Museum of the 

 Philadelphia Academy, and he informs me that no specimen labelled P. flavirostris was 

 ever received from Mr. Gould. This is probably due to the fact that the species was 

 described from the Cape seas, and might not have been considered by Gould as 

 belonging to his Australian Collection, which passed into the hands of the Academy. 



Dr. Robert Ridgway, in his " Manual of North American Birds " (2nd Ed., 

 p. 58, 1896), also separated the two species of Priofinus with the following characters : — 

 " P. cinereus. — Above ashy-grey, more or less tinged with brown, darker on the 

 top of the head, quills, and tail-feathers ; lower parts white, except the under wing- 

 coverts and tail-coverts, which are deep smoky-greyish ; bill, fight yellowish, with 

 deep black culmen and nasal tubes, the side of the lower mandible also mostly black ; 

 wing, 12.25-13.50 inches ; culmen, 1.75-1.85 ; depth of bill in front of nostril, .50-. 55 ; 

 tarsus, 2.25-2.30 ; middle toe, with claw, 2.90." 



" P. gelidus. — Above brown, the upper tail-coverts tipped with white ; wings 

 and tail blackish ; lower parts white, including the under wing-coverts and tail-coverts ; 



157 



