Order TUBINIEES.] 
[Fam. PROCELLAEIID^. 
PRION BANKSII. 
(BANKS’S DOVE PETREL.) 
Prion lanTcsii, Gould, Ann. N. H. xiii. p. 366 (1844). 
Prion rossii. Gray, Cat. Brit. Mus. Anseres, p. 165 (1844). 
Pachyptila banksi. Smith, 111. Zool. S. Afr., Birds, pi. Iv. (1849). 
Procellaria hanJcsii, Schl. Mus. Pays-Bas, Procell. p. 17 (1863). 
Pseudoprion banksii, Coues, Proc. Phil. Acad. 1866, p. 166. 
■ Ad. similis P. turturi, sed rostro latiore, pileo saturatiore et cauda nigro latius terminata distinguendus. 
Adult. Plumage similar to that of P. turtur, but with the crown of the head darker, and a broader terminal band 
of black on the tail : distinguished by its broader bill. Total length llA inches ; wing, from flexure, 9 ; 
tail 3-5 ; bill, along the ridge 1-35, greatest width at the base -6, from gape to extremity of lower mandible 
l-3o ; tarsus I'd; middle toe and claw I'o. 
Nestling. Covered with slaty-grey down. 
1 WAS formerly much in doubt about the propriety of retaining the above specific distinction ; but a 
further investigation of the subject has satisfied me that the species is a good one. After a storm on 
the coast in the month of July I found the Otaki beach strewn with the bodies of the Dove Petrel ; 
and had thus an opportunity of collecting a large number for comparison. Apart from the slight 
differences of colour, P. banMi has the tail longer and more conical, the wing decidedly longer, and 
the bill appreciably broader at the base than in P. turtur ; besides which the unguis or hooked extre- 
mity has a very different form *. 
Mr. Gould, in treating of the group, says that Prion Uriel is much smaller than P. turtur, and 
that the pectination of the bill is not discernible when that organ is closed, that P. turtur is the most 
delicate in colour as well as the most slender and elegant in form of the four species inhabiting the 
southern ocean, that P. hanTcsii has the bill of a breadth intermediate between that of P . turtur and 
that of P. vittatus and exhibiting the pectination of the mandibles when closed, and that “ there is 
another and broader-billed species than P. vittatus ” not yet described. Captain Hutton, writing on 
the same subject, observes “ A regular sequence of the Prions can be formed from P. vittatus to 
P. ariel ; and therefore I do not think it desirable to retain more than three specific names, to mark 
each end and the centre of the chain ; and ariel, as the latest, will have to be omitted. On the 
New-Zealand coast the intermediate (P. banMi) is much the most common "f. In the last observation 
I cannot concur ; for P. turtur is certainly far more plentiful on every part of the coast that I have 
visited ; and, as already mentioned in treating of the species, numbers are cast ashore after every gale 
of wind. According to my experience the broad-billed form is far less common than either P. turtur 
or P. hanJcsii. 
* At a Meeting of the Wellington Philosophical Society, held on the 29th January, 1876, five examples of the adult a 
young of Prion hanlcsii, together with a specimen of the egg, were exhibited; and the Author pointed out the characters 
to his mind, sufficiently distinguished this species from Prion turtur on the one hand, and Prion vittatus on the other. e 
specimens exhibited were obtained on the small islands off the Kew-Zealand coast, known as “The Brothers. ( lans. 
Inst. vol. viii. p. 197.) 
t Cat. Birds of New Zealand, 1871, p. 80. 9^9 
