WESTERN WEDGE-TAILED PETREL. 
Mr. Tom Carter tells me he found this bird plentiful on the north-west coast, 
as far as Corrack, in the summer months. At night, when out in his cutter, he 
heard and saw them, but he never noticed them inside the reefs. 
They are quarrelsome birds, and when pulled from their burrows offer 
every resistance, biting and scratching with their claws, and unless the hand 
is heavily gloved it is dangerous to handle the birds. 
About half an hour after sundown they commence moaning, and get uneasy 
in their burrows, and shortly afterwards birds may be seen swiftly cutting 
the air in many directions. The moaning and infant-like cries of the wedge- 
tailed Petrel are a curious experience. After a ramble, one quiet night, I noted 
in my pocket book next morning that ‘ the whole island seemed groaning and 
travailing in pain with the noise of muttonbirds.’ Sometimes the roofs of the 
guano station are struck with terrible force by the birds during flight. About 
half an hour before sunrise they disappear underground, when all is quiet as 
far as they are concerned. The attitude of this petrel upon ground resembles 
a duck upon water, a squatting posture. When walking they are assisted by 
their wings, which gives the bird a waddling or lame gait. The burrows 
generally extend two or three feet in an oblique direction, rarely more than five 
feet. Sometimes they deposit their single egg in holes or fissures of rock, while 
more than once eggs have been taken from under bushes. The eggs, like those 
of the noddies and other birds, are excellent eating, not at all fishy in flavour 
as may be supposed.”* 
A stumbling-block to most students of this group has been the Procellaria 
^acifica of Gmelin {Syst. Nat., p. 560, 1789) described as follows : — 
Pr. nigra, subtus obscura, pedibus nigro-maculatis. Pacific Petrel. Lath. Syn. III., 2, 
p. 416, n. 22. 
Habitat numerosissimis gregibus, subito nonnumquam submersis iterumque emergentibus 
circa insulam Euopoa aliasque maris pacific, 22 pollices longa. Rostrum plumbeum, apice 
aduncum ; nares obliquae, ovales, parumper elevatae ; pedes pallidi. 
This is simply a Latin diagnosis, based on the description of Latham (1785, 
p. 416) of his Pacific Petrel, from a specimen in the British Museum: — 
Length twenty-two inches ; breadth forty inches. The bill is two inches in length, of a 
lead-colour, and much hooked at the tip ; in the place of a tube the nostrils only appear ; 
they are situated obliquely, of an oval shape, a little elevated, and placed an inch and a 
quarter from the base ; the upper-parts of the plumage are black, the under dusky ; legs 
pale on the insteps, where they are marked with some black spots, and a few others on the 
toes and webs. 
Inhabits Euopoa, and other islands of the Pacific Ocean. 
In his Cat. Birds Trop. Isles Pacific Ocean, p. 55, 1859, Gray included it 
as Puffinus pacificus, inhabiting “ Euopoa and other islands of the Pacific Seas.” 
Coues (1866, p. 193) noted it as : “ Not identified with any other known species. 
* Campbell, Proc. Austr. Asaoo. Adv. Science 1890, Vol. II., p. 495. 
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