Order PR0CELLABIIF0RME8 
No. 76. 
Family HYDROBATIDM 
OCEANITES NEREIS NEREIS. 
GEEY-BACKED STO RM -P E TEE L . 
(Plate 69.)* 
Thalassideoma nereis Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc. (Lond.) 1840, p. 178, 1841; Bass Strait. 
Thalassidroma nereis Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc. (Lond.) 1840, p. 178, 1841 ; id., Birds Austr,, 
Vol. VII., PI. 64, 1845. 
Procellaria nereis Bonaparte, Consp. Gen. Av., Vol. II., p. 196, 1857 ; Ramsay, Proc. Linn. 
Soc. N.S.W., Vol. II., p. 203, 1877 ; Coues, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philad. 1864, 
p. 81 ; Gould, Handb. Birds Austr., Vol. II., p. 476, 1865. 
Oarrodia nereis Forbes, Proc. Zool. Soc. (Lond.) 1881, p. 736 ; BuUer, Birds New Zeal., 2nd ed., 
Vol. II., p. 247, 1888 ; H. O. Forbes, Ibis 1893, p. 542 ; Salvin, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., 
Vol. XXV., p. 361, 1896 (pars) ; Hall, Key Birds Austr., p. 91, 1899 ; Oates, Cat. 
Birds’ Eggs Brit. Mus., Vol. I., p. 150, 1901 ; Campbell, Nests and Eggs Austr. Birds, 
p. 871, 1901 ; Buller, Suppl. Birds New Zeal., Vol. I., p. 98, 1905 ; Hall, Key Birds 
Austr., 2nd ed., p. 91, 1906 ; Godman, Monogr. Petrels, p. 50, 1907 (pars) ; Mathews, 
Handl. Birds Austral., p. 15, 1908 ; Littler, Handb. Birds Tasm., p. 159, 1910. 
Distribution. Australian seas (also New Zealand). 
Adult male. Head and neck aU round, upper-back, lesser wing-coverts, bastard-wing, and 
primary-coverts sooty-black ; greater wing-coverts and scapulars dark grey, more 
or less edged with white ; primary and secondary quills blackish, white on the inner- 
webs towards the base ; rump and upper tail-coverts grey ; tail grey with a soot^’^- 
black band at the tip ; breast, sides of body, axillaries, greater under wing-coverts 
and abdomen white ; sides of breast and outer edge of wing below sooty-black ; under 
tail-coverts white, the lateral and longer ones barred and spotted with ashy-grey 
bill, iris, and feet black. Total length 175 mm. ; culmen (exp.) 13, wing 128, tail 65,. 
tarsus 31. 
Adult female. Similar to the adult male, but not quite so dark in the head. 
Nest. “ Situated in burrows about 18 inches deep, and resembling rat-holes ” (Seymour,, 
Tomahawk Island). \ 
Egg. Clutch, one. Ground-colour white, the larger end covered with fine dots of deep 
reddish-brown and lavender, and a few reddish ones sparingly distributed over the 
rest of the surface. Dimensions 33 mm. by 23-5. 
Breeding-season. November (Reischek, Guano Island) ; January (Seymour, Tomahawk 
Island). 
* The plate is lettered Oarrodia nereis. 
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