PETREL. 171 



Ossifraga, or Break-bones, Ulloa Voy. 8vo. ii. 214. 

 Mother Cary's Goose, Cook's Voy. ii. 205. 



Giant Petrel, Gen. Syn. vi. 39G. pi. 100. Arct. Zool. ii. Sup. p. 71. Cook's last Voy. 

 ii. 258. & 299. 



THIS is the largest of the Petrel Genus, in length forty inches, 

 and expands seven feet. The bill is four inches and a half long, 

 remarkably stout, and dusky yellow ; the upper mandible very 

 hooked at the end; the tube on the top reaches nearly half way 

 from the base; at the gape a naked, wrinkled, yellow skin; the 

 crown of the head is dusky; the sides, fore part of the neck, breast, 

 and belly, white; neck behind, and upper parts of the body, pale 

 brown, mottled with dusky white; scapulars, wing coverts, quills, 

 and tail, dusky brown ; the last six inches long, and the feathers 

 darker in the middle; the legs greyish yellow; webs dusky; the 

 spur behind stout, and pointed, but short ; claws black. 



We have seen one of these birds in which the general plumage 

 was yellow brown, inclining to chocolate, somewhat paler beneath. 



Found at Staaten-land, Terra del Fuego, the Isle of Desolation, 

 and other places in the high southern latitudes; often seen sailing, 

 with expanded wings, close to the surface of the water, without 

 appearing to move them ; like others of the Genus, said to be most 

 active, and in the greatest numbers, either in storms, or at the 

 approach of them ; hence their appearance is unwelcome to the 

 mariners. Like the Albatross, they also visit the northern hemi- 

 sphere; being seen in lat. 44. 10. N. in March;* off the coasts of 

 Nootka Sound in April ;f and again further north on the American 

 Coast in May, in pairs; from which we may not unaptly conclude, 

 that they breed in the north ; though as yet no one has mentioned 

 the circumstance. 



If it be only in the south, they must migrate in the same manner 

 as the Albatross, which is not improbable, as they are found frequently 

 together, and it must be confessed, that they are met with in the largest 



* Cook's last Voy. ii. 258. f Id. 299. X Id. 352. 



Z 2 



