MONOGRAPH OF THE PETRELS. 



describes a perfectly mature example from a fresh skin at the Canterbury 

 Museum, in which the whole of the head and neck, as well as the upper and lower 

 parts of the body, are of the purest white. On eaeh side of the nape there was a broad 

 longitudinal mark, of a beautiful roseate pink, about six inches in length by two 

 in breadth, which faded soon after death, and ultimately disappeared altogether in the 

 dried skin. Another specimen obtained at the same time showed similar traces of this 

 feature, but in a very diminished degree, and Buller concluded that it was only to be 

 met with in very old birds, or at some particular season of the year. Mr. Sanford 

 mentions that some specimens he examined had a beautiful rose-coloured powder, 

 covering the white plumage in December; this is evanescent, and will either rub 

 off or change to a dirty brown in the preserved specimen. The beak is also of a 

 delicate rose-colour at the same season, and Captain Fairchild likewise says that 

 two birds, apparently a male and female, obtained near the Chatham Islands in 

 September, had blood-red marks on the sides of the neck (Buller, Suppl., I., 

 p. 129). 



The adult described is the bird collected by Nikolai Hanson in the Cape 

 Seas, as above recorded, and the same specimen is figured in the Plate. 



318 



