PETREL. 183 



12- CINEREOUS PETREL. 



Procellaxia qinerea, Ind. Orn. ii. 824. Gm. Lin. i. 563. Tern. Man. Ed.2d. 805. 



Forst. Ic. t. 92. 

 Cinereous Petrel, Gen. Syn. vi. 405. Id. Sup.W. 335. 



LENGTH twenty inches. Bill yellowish, with black sutures ; 

 irides ash-colour; all the upper parts of the plumage dusky ash; 

 crown and forehead palest; beneath, from chin to vent, white; tail 

 rounded in shape, and black ; beneath pale ash ; legs bluish, webs 

 pale yellow ; toes and claws pale. 



Inhabits the parts within the A ntartic Circle;* many seen in the 

 latitude of 48 degrees ; food various. Bills of the cuttle fish have 

 been found in the stomach. 



We have seen a Variety with a pale bine bill, and the breast and 

 belly deep dusky black. 



Another, common about Port Jackson, in New-Holland, and the 

 parts adjacent, wholly dusky black; but the sides of the head, the 

 neck, and all beneath, ash-colour; bill and legs dull yellow. 



In one specimen we observed the whole of the under parts, from 

 breast to vent, occupied by an ash-coloured down, projecting greatly 

 more than the feathers which would probably afterwards supply its 

 place, shewing that birds in this state are in imperfect plumage. 



It is said that six species of the Petrel Genus are found in the 

 island of Tristan da Cunha, viz. the Giant, the Cinereous, and the 

 Broad-billed, with three others, smaller, which are night birds; never 

 appearing on the wing till after sun-set, and may be caught in any 

 number, by kindling a fire ; when, attracted by the light, they ap- 

 proach, and flutter round it, like so many moths round a candle, till 

 at length the greater number of them, dazzled by the glare, plunge 

 into the flames and perish .f 



* M. Temminck considers this the same bird as the Shearwater, and that it is seen on 

 the coast of Spain and Provence, and probably Italy, but not in the Adriatic, 

 f Lin. Trans. V. xii. p. 497. 



