Okdub TTJBINAEES.] 
OSSIFEAGA GIGANTEA. 
(GIANT PETREL.) 
[Pam. PEOCELLAEIID^. 
Giant Petrel, Lath. Gen. Syn. iii. pt. 2, p. 396, pi. c (1785). 
Procellaria gigantea, Gm. Syst. Nat. i. p. 563 (1788). 
Procellaria ossifraga, Forst. Descr. Anim. p. 34 d (1844). 
Ossifraga gigantea, Hombr. & Jacq. Voy. P61e Sud, Zool. iii. p. 148 (1853). 
Ad schistaceo-brunnescens, facie laterali et corpora subths paullo pallidioribus ; rlorso et tectricibus alarum palli 
diore cincreo anguste marginatis : rostro flavicauti-corueo : pedibus cinerascentx-mgris, ungmbus albicanti- 
corueis : iride nigricanti-brunneS.. 
Adult male. Entire plumage uniform dark slate-grey, with glossy edges to the feathers, imparting to the 
surface a pretty, sheeny appearance. Irides blackish brown ; bill whitish horn-colour ; legs and feet greyish 
black, the claws whitish horn-colour. Total length 37-5 inches ; extent of wmgs 6 feet 9 inches; wing 
from carpal flexure, 3L5 ; tail 9 ; bill, along the ridge 5, along the edge of lower mandible 4 ; height ot 
hill, to summit of tubular nostrils, 1-6 ; tarsus 3-75 ; middle toe and claw 6 ; hind claw -5. 
Adult female. Entire plumage dull slaty brown, paler or changing to creamy grey on the face throat, and 
underparts of the body ; on the upper parts some of the feathers are strongly tinged with chocolate-brown 
and all the feathers of the hack, as well as the wing-coverts, have paler greyish margins. Total len 
32 inches; extent of wings 66; wing, from flexure, ISA ; tail 7-6; bill, to anterior edge of tube l-7o, 
thence, following the curvature, to the tip 2, along the edge of lower mandible 3-75 ; bare tibia 1-25 ; tarsus 
2‘7.5 ; middle toe and claw 5. 
Obs. On the approach of the moulting-season the plumage has a faded or washed-out appearance. 
Var Albinoes, more or less perfect, are not of unfrequent occurrence. One which I obtained near aikanae, 
on the West Coast, and presented to the Colonial Museum, was of snowy whiteness without blemish ot any 
kind ; even the legs and feet were whitish, the bill being yellowish horn-colour. A more beautiful object 
than this snow-white Petrel could scarcely he imagined. It proved on dissection to be a and I noticed 
that it was almost entirely free from the strong Petrel odour. There is another albino of almost equal 
purity in the same eollection, which was captured by Sir James Heetor in Eoveaux Strait. This one, 
however, betrays here and there a dark brown feather on the upper surface. 
At LiardePs establishment, in Wellington, there was exhibited for several years a white specimen with 
widely scattered slaty black feathers all over the body, particularly on the upper parts and with the ai - 
feathers pale ash-grey. It was sent to the Colonial Exhibition in 1886, and is now in Mr. Silver s collection 
of New-Zealand birds at Letcomh Regis. There is an almost exactly similar specimen in the Liverpool 
iTthe Otago Museum there is another albino which shows traces of the normal colour on the mantle 
and seapulars, with a few scattered dark feathers on the underparts. This specimen came from Macquarie 
Island, whence also the Museum reeeived a singular variety in glossy adult plumage, but differing rom e 
normal form in having the head and neck creamy white, shading into pale bluish grey on the breast an 
deepening on the underparts ; the upper surface is as in ordinary specimens, except that the e g 
wings are prettily variegated with creamy white and pale brown ; bill dull horn-colour , legs a 
It is not an unusual thing to meet with individuals having the forehead, face, and th 
mottled with greyish white, or with a single white feather among the primaries. 
VOL. II. 
