MONOGRAPH OF THE PETRELS. 



The species occurs in the southern areas of the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian 

 Oceans. Salvin gives its range as between Lat. 40° and 60° S., but since the publication 

 of the " Catalogue of Birds in the British Museum," the recent Antarctic Expeditions 

 have extended our knowledge of its distribution to Lat. 70° S. 



Dr. Bruce and the naturalists on board the " Scotia " observed this species in the 

 far south, and procured ten specimens, enabling Mr. Eagle Clarke to indicate its 

 range, which may easily be confounded with that of Prion banksi, when the birds 

 are recorded as " Blue Petrels " only. 



The same expedition was the first to notice H. ccerulea beyond the Antarctic 

 Circle. It was found in the Weddell Sea, Lat. 69° 33' S., whilst other " Blue Petrels " 

 believed to be of this species were seen down to Lat. 71° 28' S. (Ibis, 1907, p. 329). 



No specimens were obtained north of Lat. 64° 29' S., but here two examples of 

 H. ccerulea and one of P. banksi were procured on February 25th, 1904, and eight of 

 the former were taken in March (1903 or 1904), Lat. 68° and 69° 30', Long. 12° 49' and 

 35° 29' W. 



It is also probable that this was the species mentioned by Ross as having been seen 

 in the Weddell Sea, and there can be but little doubt that it was the bird met with by 

 Weddell himself on February 28th, 1823, a little further west in Lat. 73° S., when he 

 says the sea was covered with birds of the " Blue Petrel kind." He further mentions 

 it as occurring in the South Shetlands, but this has not been confirmed by recent 

 observers (Ibis, 1907, p. 341). 



The bird appears to be specially characteristic of the Weddell Sea, but somewhat 

 local in its most southern range. It was not obtained by the " Scotia " in the South 

 Orkneys during the summer, nor anywhere in the vicinity. A specimen, now in the 

 British Museum, was obtained by Sir A. Smith in the Cape Seas, but its occurrence 

 there is somewhat rare, though individuals are occasionally driven north by gales, as 

 instanced by the capture of a bird at East London (W. L. Sclater, Faun. S. Afr. 

 Birds, IV., p. 488). 



On Tristan da Cunha and Gough Island it was not observed by the Scottish 

 Antarctic Expedition, though Gould says that numbers were seen between these islands 

 and the coast of America on June 12th, 1840, Lat. 41° S., Long. 34£° W. Professor 

 Vanhoffen on the " Gauss " records H. ccerulea in considerable numbers near Bouvet 

 Island, and on Kerguelen Island it was found breeding, as described by the Rev. E. A. 

 Eaton and Dr. Kidder. 



Gould on his voyage to Australia first noticed the species in Lat. 39° 23' S., Long. 

 54° E. As the ship proceeded the birds increased in number and were very plentiful 

 off the coast of Tasmania. More were seen between Hobart Town and South Australia 

 and Sydney, and in the beginning of May, 1840, it was very abundant off the north-east 

 coast of New Zealand ; but though so numerous there, specimens are rare in 

 collections, and the only examples mentioned by Sir Walter Buller are one in the 



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