THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
Adult male. General colour above ash-grey, including the feathers of the back, scapulars, 
and upper tail-coverts ; the long scapulars and wing -coverts a little darker than 
the back, and show the shaft- streaks ; bastard- wing and primary-coverts 
ash-brown ; primary-quills hoary-grey, paler on the inner webs, outer web 
of the first primary blackish ; shafts white towards the base ; secondaries hoary- 
grey, more or less white on the basal portion ; tail for the most part brown with 
hoary-grey on the outer webs of the feathers and becoming whitish towards the 
base ; head and sides of the face darker than the back, and inchning to black or 
slate-grey ; throat and under surface of the body white ; the long under tail-coverts 
ash-brown with pale edges ; axillaries and under wing-coverts also ash-brown, some 
of the latter have pale edges ; “ Bill perfectly black on the ridge, changing to horn- 
colour on the hook and having a black fine down the middle of the lower mandible, 
widening out on meeting the unguis, which is dull horn-colour, remainder of bill yellow ; 
legs and feet greyish flesh- colour, shaded with dark on the heel and on the outer sides 
of the tarsus and toes ; interdigital webs yellowish with grey edges, iris dark brown ” 
(Buller). Total length 425 mm. ; culmen (exp.) 45, wing 335, tail 112, tarsus 55. 
Adult female. Similar to adult male. 
Nest. “ Oup-shaped structure, in a large chamber at the end of a burrow ” (Hutton). 
Egg. Clutch one ; pure white ; axis 70 mm., diameter 50 (White). 
Breeding-season. October to December ; Macquarie Island {id.) . 
Captain F. W. Hutton* writes : “ This bird combines the appearance of a 
Procellaria with some of the habits of a Puffinus. Its feathers fi.t very close, and 
have a glossy look. Like all other Petrels, it flies with its legs stretched straight 
out behind, and, as in this bird they are rather long, they make the tail appear 
forked. Its cry is something like the bleating of a lamb. It is very common 
at sea from May to August, but retires to Kerguelen’s Land and other places 
in September or October to breed. Each pair burrows horizontally into wet 
peaty earth, from two to eighteen feet. They seldom leave their burrows in the 
daytime, and when one happens to do so it is at once hunted by a ‘ Nelly ’ ” [one 
of the larger Petrels], “ although no such jealousy exists at sea. From this habit 
of flying only by night it is called ‘ Night Hawk ’ by the sailors. Mr. Harris’s 
party, when wrecked on Kerguelen’s Land, used to dig these birds out of their 
burrows and eat them ; and in order to save useless digging, for their spades 
were only made from the staves of old casks, they would hold one to the mouth 
of a hole and make it cry out, when, if another was inside, it would answer. 
This bird is by far the best diver of all the sea-going Petrels. It seems even fond 
of it, and often remains under water for several minutes, when it comes up 
again, shaking the water off its feathers like a dog. Sometimes I have seen it, 
as it flies past, poise itself for a moment in the air at a height of about twenty 
or twenty-five feet above the sea, and, shutting its wings, take a header into 
the water. It dives with its wings open, and uses them under water much 
in the same manner as when flying.” 
* Ibis, 1865, p. 285. 
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