MONOGRAPH OF THE PETRELS. 



Dr. Harvie Pirie, where it had alighted on a mass of tussock-grass, from which, 

 though apparently uninjured, it was unable to rise. Mr. Rothschild, to whom he 

 referred it for examination, recognised its resemblance to T. carteri, but noticed that 

 it differed in having the toes nearly .75 inch shorter, and also the hind-neck washed 

 with grey like the back, instead of being white (Bull. Brit. Orn. Club, XIV., p. 6). 

 Mr. Eagle Clarke has now kindly lent me this specimen for examination, and I find 

 that the short foot is occasioned by the absence of a phalanx in two of the outer toes 

 on both feet, but in other respects it agrees very well with T. carteri. There are, how- 

 ever, some minor points worthy of notice, viz. : the extension of the dark colour of the 

 back to the hind-neck as mentioned above, and a slight difference at the base of the 

 culminicorn, there is also a grey tinge on the face and crown ; these characters, however, 

 appear to me of trivial importance. I ascribe the absence of a joint in the toes to a 

 malformation or an individual peculiarity, and I am the more inclined to do so, as the 

 feet look out of proportion to the size of the bird, moreover I am not aware that any 

 other member of the order Tubinares is without the full complement of toe-bones, 

 consequently I place this bird, for the present at all events, under T. carteri. 



Adult male. General colour above blackish, with broad ashy-grey margins to the 

 feathers, becoming gre3 r er on the mantle, wings blackish-brown, rump and upper tail- 

 coverts pure white ; tail ashy -grey, dusky towards the ends, shafts white, the outer 

 feathers blackish internally, light ashy-grey externally, dusky towards the end ; head 

 and neck as well as the upper mantle white ; sides of the face and the whole of the 

 under surface pure white, including the under wing-coverts, which have a broad band 

 of dark brown feathers round the edge of the wing ; quills below blackish, ashy along 

 the inner web. Culmen, 4.2 inches ; wing, 17.4 ; tail, 6.7 ; tarsus, 2.8 ; middle toe and 

 claw, 3.3. 



The description and figure are taken from the type. 



362 



