WHITE PINTADO. 



White-breasted Petrel. Lath. Gen. Si/v. 6. 400. 

 Norfolk Island Petrel. Lath. Si/n. Sup. ii. 334. 

 Fuliginous Petrel. Lath. Gen. Hist. x. 1/4. 



Described by Latham from a specimen formerly in 

 the collection of the late Sir Joseph Banks: Length 

 sixteen inches : beak an inch and a half long, hooked 

 at the tip, and black : the head, neck, and upper parts 

 of the body, dusky-brown, nearly black : on the throat 

 a whitish patch : breast, belly, and vent white : under 

 tail coverts cinereous and white mixed : tail rounded 

 at the end : legs black-brown : the fore part of the 

 toes half-way black ; the outside of the exterior toe 

 the same for the whole length : webs black : spurs be- 

 hind blunt. Inhabits Turtle and Christmas Islands." 

 He adds, in his second Supplement, the following 

 account : Inhabits Norfolk Island, where it is in 

 great plenty, and burrows in the sand like a rabbit. 

 On Mount Pitt, the highest land in the island, the 

 ground was as full of holes as a rabbit warren, and 

 an immense number of aquatic birds burrowed and 

 built their nests in them. These, during the day, 

 were at sea, but as night approaches, they return in 

 vast flocks. The settlers lighted small fires every 

 night on this mount, about which the birds dropped 

 as fast as the people could pick them up and kill 

 them." 



