Oedee TUBINAEES.] 
[Fam. PEOCELLAEIID^. 
GAEEODIA NEEEIS. 
(GREY-BACKED STORM-PETREL.) 
Thalassidroma nereis, Gould, P. Z. S. 1840, p. 178. 
Procellaria nereis, Bonap. C. E. xlii. p. 769 (1856). 
Thalassidroma nereis, Buller, Birds of New Zealand, 1st ed. p. 322 (1873). 
Garrodia nereis, Forbes, P. Z. S. 1881, p. 736. 
Ad. pileo colloque toto, cum interscapulio et tectricibus alarum minimis, et medianis exterioribus fuliginoso-nigris : 
dorso postico, uropygio et supracaudalibus, scapularibus et tectricibus alarum majoribus canescentibus : 
remigibus brunnescenti-nigris, secundariis vix cauescente lavatis ; caudd sordide canescente, ad apicem 
nigricante : gutture pallidiiis fuliginoso : corpore reliquo subtus albo, subalaribus exterioribus brunneis : 
rostro nigro, versus basin maudibulEe albicaute : pedibus saturate brunneis : iride nigrd. 
Adult. Head, neck, and all the upper surface dark ash-grey ; rump and upper tail-coverts paler, or silvery grey ; 
under surface pure white, the grey plumage preseuting a distinct margin across the upper part of the breast. 
Irides and bill black, the latter whitish towards the base of lower mandible ; legs and feet dark brown. 
Length 6'5 inches; extent of wings 13 ; wing, from flexure, 5'5; tail 2'75 ; bill, along the ridge ’5, along 
the edge of lower mandible ’55 ; bare tibia '6 ; tarsus 1‘3 ; middle toe and claw 1. 
Ods. The sexes are alike, both as to size and plumage. 
This pretty little Storm-Petrel Avas originally discovered and described by Mr. Gould, who obtained 
four specimens during a calm on his passage from Hobart Town to Sydney in May 1839, and who met 
with it again a month earlier in the following year betiveen New South Wales and the northernmost 
point of New Zealand. I have received specimens from Otago and from Cape Campbell. Under 
stress of weather it is sometimes driven inland, and I remember an instance of a foot-passenger on 
the Wanganui bridge catching one Avith his hands as it fluttered past him. 
The species is readily distinguishable from the other Storm-Petrels by its diminutive size and 
the absence of white on the rump. 
Mr. Keischek found it breeding on Guano Island in the beginning of November. He discovered 
flve or six nests, each containing a single egg. 
Mr. Percy Seymour sends me the following note: — “I found a number of nests of this Petrel on 
Tomahawk Island, Otago Peninsula, on the 18th January. The birds had been previously disturbed, 
and their eggs taken, and they were therefore probably unusually late in breeding, for I have, on 
another occasion, obtained fresh eggs as early as November 23. The nests Avere situated in burroAvs, 
about 18 inches deep, and resembling rat-holes. Five of the nests contained one young bird each, 
and the other five one egg each, on which the female bird Avas sitting in every case. I Avas able to 
preserve only two of the eggs, as in the others the young birds inside broke the shell before I reached 
home. The specimen in my cabinet measures 1‘46 inch by 1‘05, and is white, faintly stained Avith 
yelloAvish brown, and marked all over with faint blotches of purplish red, with numerous tiny dots of 
a darker shade. The marks are most numerous at one end, but both ends are equally rounded. 
An egg of this species in my son’s collection is ovoido-elliptical, has a fine granulate surface, and 
measures 1‘25 inch in length by ‘9 in breadth; originally Avhite, it has noAV a soiled appearance, 
with a zone of minute specks at the larger end. 
