MONOGRAPH OP THE PETRELS. 



description of P. ariel as occurring in a paper published in the " Proceedings of the 

 Zoological Society," it is not to be found there, and it therefore becomes a nomen 

 nudum. As Professor Reichenow points out, the bird must now be designated 

 P. brevirostris. Although Sir Walter Buller separated the two forms under the names 

 of P. ariel and P. brevirostris, I can see no difference between the type specimen of the 

 latter from Madeira and the ordinary specimens from Australian Seas usually called 

 P. ariel. 



Gould found the species not uncommon in Bass's Straits, whence Mr. A. J. Campbell 

 has also recorded it from North-East Island in the Kent group ; it was breeding 

 plentifully in the crevices of rocks and under the densely matted stems and roots of 

 pig-face weed, but no account of the eggs was given. Nests have been met with in other 

 parts of the Straits, notably on Albatros Rock, where Messrs. D. Le Souef and 

 H. P. C. Ash worth found them in 1894, also on Craggy Island and other spots (Campbell, 

 Nests and Eggs Austr. Birds, II., p. 918, 1901). Eggs were procured by Mr. Percy 

 Seymour on the Brothers Island in Cook's Straits. 



There are several examples from New Zealand in the British Museum, and the 

 Rothschild Collection contains two specimens in down from the Chatham Islands. 



P. brevirostris is said to be distributed over the Southern Oceans between Lat. 

 35° and 60° S., and during the voyage of the " Magenta " Professor Giglioli obtained 

 a specimen out of a flock of P. banksi on July 22nd, 1867, Lat. 38° 39' S., Long. 128° 58' 

 W. (Faun. Vertebr. Oceano, p. 45). 



The series in the British Museum shows that it is found in the South Indian 

 Ocean, and a specimen from Kerguelen Island certainly belongs to P. brevirostris and 

 not to P. desolatus. The species extends apparently from the Cape as far north as 

 Madeira, where Gould procured his type of P. ariel, now called P. brevirostris. 



Adult. Although in other respects resembling P. desolatus, the stoutness of the 

 bill in P. ariel easily distinguishes it from the former ; the bill is also straight along 

 the sides, not bowed inwards towards the tip, and both species agree in having the 

 head exactly like the back, with no sign of a dusky crown ; the dusky mark in front 

 of the eye and the blackish streak along the upper edge of the ear-coverts are very 

 faintly indicated. Total length about 9.5 inches, culmen, .85 ; wing, 7.1 ; tail, 3.3 ; 

 tarsus, 1.2 ; middle toe and claw, 1.35. 



The description and figure are taken from one of the typical specimens of 

 P. ariel, received by us in exchange from Gould (spec, e of the British Museum 

 " Catalogue of Birds," XXV., p. 436). * 



The Plate is lettered Prion ariel, which was the title generally received when the 

 figure was drawn. 



298 



