MONOGRAPH OF THE PETRELS. 



cry. Mr. F. A. Ober, an enthusiastic American naturalist, made a special expedition 

 to the highlands of that island to search for the nesting-places, but was unsuccessful. 

 The next attempt was made by Colonel Feilden himself, with Admiral Markham 

 and other friends, and accompanied by some negroes who had actually taken the 

 birds in former years. They ascended the Morne au Diable in Dominica, but, 

 though the burrows under the roots of trees still remained, no traces of the bird 

 could be found. 



Writing in 1906, Mr. W. Hyatt Verrill, in his pamphlet entitled " Addition to the 

 Avifauna of Dominica," says that CE. hcesitata is a rare species near the coast, but not 

 uncommon on the fishing grounds, and in Martinique and Guadeloupe Channels. One 

 specimen was captured on board a steamer on September 12th, 1904. 



An example in the British Museum, the type of Gould's Procellaria rubritarsi, is 

 said to have come from Hayti. The species is apparently not yet extinct, as wandering 

 individuals continue to be captured in northern latitudes, but it is doubtless doomed 

 to speedy destruction in those islands where the Mongoose and Opossum have been 

 introduced. 



Adult. General colour above dark brown, the feathers with obsolete margins of 

 lighter brown, the longer scapulars and the upper wing-coverts rather blacker than 

 the back, with scarcely perceptible lighter brown edges to the feathers : quills black, 

 the primaries ashy-brown on the inner webs, with the base inclining to white, the inner 

 secondaries rather browner ; rump and basal upper tail-coverts black ; lateral upper tail- 

 coverts at the base of the tail, and all the long coverts of this series white ; tail-feathers 

 black, white at the base, especially on the inner web ; crown of head black, forming a 

 cap ; forehead and lores white, the centre of the former black, mottled with white 

 edges to the feathers ; sides of face white, the feathers in front of the eye black, and 

 spotted with black below the latter ; cheeks and sides of neck pure white, extending 

 in a broad white collar round the hind-neck, which has a few brown-tipped feathers 

 in the centre ; entire under-surface of body pure white, including the under tail-coverts ; 

 under wing-coverts black, forming a broad band round the whole of the bend of the 

 wing, the median and greater coverts pure white ; axillaries white ; under-surface of 

 the quills black, grey on the inner webs, which have white bases. Total length about 

 14.5 inches; culmen, 1.25; wing, 11.4; tail, 5.0; tarsus, 1.5; middle toe and 

 claw, 2.0. 



The description and figure are taken from the specimen in the British Museum. It 

 was originally presented to the Zoological Society by Mr. J. Hearne, and is believed 

 to have come from Hayti. 



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