GENUS THALASSOICA (Reichenbach). 



rilHIS is one of the most prettily coloured among the Petrels, and is the only representative of the 

 grenus. 



THALASSOICA GLACI ALU IDES. 



SILVER-GREY PETREL. Genus: Thalassoica. 



rilKAVELLERS to Australia who pass the days in angling for the birds which follow the ship generally 

 become well acquainted with this variety, for it is either among the most greedy or stupid of the 

 flocks which follow astern on the look out for food. It is often caught on a hook which is dragged along 

 the surface with a piece of meat attached. 



It is met with ranging over vast portions of the South Atlantic as well a> the South Pacific, 

 and is also plentiful in the Indian Ocean. It Hies higher than most of the other Petrels, but its food 

 consists of much the same materials as that of the other members of the tribe : it also rests more 

 frequently on the surface of the water. 



There is no outward difference observable between the sexes. 



All the upper surface, from head to tail, a rich silvery -grey ; outer webs, shafts, and tips of 

 primaries and outer webs of secondaries, a slaty-black : all the under surface and face, pure white ; nostrils, 

 culmen, and portion of the base of the upper mandible, bluish lead-colour : tips of mandibles, horn-colour, 

 darkening into black at the extreme points ; legs and feet, blue-grey, touched with a faint pink on the 

 tarsi, and streaked with black marks on the joints. 



Habitats : This species has a wide distribution, and is common to both Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, 

 frequenting both warm and cold seas. At the Falkland and Chatham Islands, and about the desolate 

 shores of Antipodes Island, a lonely spot to the southward of New Zealand, they are to be seen in vast 

 Hocks, as well as in the warmer Polynesian seas. 



