408 



ORNITHOLOGY, 



" February loth, 1839. A specimen of the large Petrel taken this 

 morning. This bird we have seen occasionally since the 15th of Janu- 

 ary, when we were in latitude 39°, in the Atlantic Ocean, and at first 

 it was mistaken for an Albatross. Size as large as a Goose ; total 

 length two feet, five inches ; expanse of wings six feet ; tail rounded, 

 and consisting of sixteen feathers ; iris lake-brown. 



" This bird could run or stand for a few moments without expand- 

 ing its wings, but was apparently very soon fatigued with such exer- 

 tion, and almost immediately assumed a sitting position like Thalassi- 

 droma. Its wings were long and rather narrow, as in the Albatrosses, 

 and in flight kept almost in a straight line, at right angles from the 

 body. Its flight is chiefly sailing, and with great rapidity and appa- 

 rent ease, though long continued. This bird was called a ' Molly 

 Mock,' by the seamen, some of whom recognized it as an old acquain- 

 tance. It is frequently seen alighting and resting on the water." 



Excellent specimens of this interesting species are in the collection 

 of the Expedition. This bird forms the genus Ossifraga, Hombron & 

 Jacquemont, which is adopted by the Prince Bonaparte, in his Mono- 

 graph of this group, in Conspectus Avium, II, p. 186. 



2. Procellaria pacifica, Audiibon. 



Procellaria pacifica, AuD. Orn. Biog. V, p. 831 (1839). 



Specimens from the coast of Oregon, though, in general appearance, 

 resembling Procellaria glacialis, are certainly distinct, as described by 

 Mr. Audubon. 



Young birds of this species, in the collection of the Expedition and 

 in the Museum of the Philadelphia Academy, are uniformly of a 

 darker cinereous than in the young plumage of P. glacialis, and there 

 is no vestige of the dark or nearly black spot before the eye, which is 

 a character of the latter. The bill, as stated by Mr. Audubon, is much 

 smaller and more compressed. 



Under date of 29th of April, 1841, on the coast of Oregon, we find 

 this bird mentioned in the Journal of Dr. Pickering : 



" Several specimens of a Procellaria, resembling P. glacialis, were 

 to-day taken with a hook and line. The plumage is ashy, somewhat 

 mottled, and they are perhaps all young birds. One set at liberty on 



