PLATE 



IX IX IX. 



GENUS ADAMASTOR (Bonaparte). 



rN EVERAL species of large Petrels are classed under this genus, and the following variety visits 

 Australian waters, specimens having been obtained by Gould on the east coast of this continent. 



ADAMASTOR CINEREA. 



GREAT GREY PETREL. Gems: Adamastor. 



1\/TEMBERS of this genus are often mistaken for Albatroses from their great size and soaring flight. 

 -L"-*- The Great Grey Petrel covers vast areas of the ocean from east to west and is found over nearly 

 twenty degrees of south latitude. It flies higher generally than the smaller Petrels but descends with 

 lightning-like swiftness when it sees food on the surface. 



Though its name does not point to the possession of diving powers, it is as skilful under water 

 as the Diving Petrel, using its wings for propulsion beneath the surface. One observer, Mr. Harris, 

 records that he saw it close its wings and plunge into the sea from a great height, after the manner of 

 the Gannets, in search of food. From its habits of frequently flying abroad by night, it has often been 

 called the Night Hawk. 



It builds in burrows, which are hollowed out of the faces of soft banks in such lonely islands 

 as Kerguelen's Land. These burrows are sometimes driven in to a length of twenty feet and frequently 

 split off into numerous separate branches. The branches have no terminal chamber, but the main tunnel 

 ends in an enlarged space. The strange feature is noticed that the branches do not appear to be put to any 

 special use ; the eggs being deposited in the terminal or enlarged chamber. The eggs are merely laid on 

 the floor of this cavity, where they are hatched. Before the female begins to sit, birds of both sexes 

 visit these chambers, when they may be heard making a dismal, moaning sound. Once the hatching 

 begins, the male bird no longer visits the nest and the birds become silent, except at night, when the 

 male may be heard calling to his mate on the nest. 



The colouring of the sexes is alike, but the female is somewhat smaller than the male. 



Crown and sides of the head, ear-coverts and upper surface, tips of the tail feathers and under 

 tail-coverts, dark brownish-grey ; throat, chest and under surface, white ; cuhnen and nostrils, black ; tip 

 of the mandibles, horn-colour; tomia, yellowish horn-colour; feet, yellowish: toes, brownish -black. 



Habitats: From the 30th to 60th degrees of south latitude this species is universally diffused; 

 and, indeed, has so great a range of habitat that it is met with from the desolate cliffs of KerguelenV 

 Land to the solitude of the icy seas about Cape Horn. 



