Order PBOCELLARIIFOBMES 
Family PBOCELLABIIDM. 
PTERODROMA MOLLIS. 
SOFT-PLUM AGED PETEEL. 
(Plate 86.)* 
Procellaeia Mollis Gould, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., Vol. XIII., p. 363, 1844; South Atlantic 
Ocean. 
Procellaria mollis Gould, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., Vol. XIII., p. 363, 1844 ; id., Birds Austr., 
Vol. VII., PI. 50, 1848 ; Oassin, U.S. Expl. Exp., p. 410, 1858. 
Bhantistes mollis Bonaparte, Gomptes Rendus Sci., Paris, Vol. XLII., p.'768, 1856. 
Cookilaria mollis, id., Consp. Gen. Av., Vol. II., p. 190, 1857. 
Mstrelata mollis Gould, Handb. Birds Austr., Vol. II., p. 453, 1865 ; Coues, Proc. Acad. 
Nat. Sci. Philad. 1866, pp. 150, 170 ; Reichenow, Deutsche Siidp. Exp,, Zool., 
pp. 485, 555, 1907. 
Fulmarus mollis Gray, Handl. Gen. Sp. Birds Brit. Mus,, Vol. III., p. 107, 1871. 
Pterodroma {Mstrelata) mollis Ramsay, Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., Vol. II., p. 202, 1877; 
id.. Tab. List Austr. Birds, p. 24, 1888. 
(Estrelata mollis Salvin, Ibis 1877, p. 480 ; Sharpe, ed. Layard’s Birds South Africa, 
p. 766, 1884 ; id.. Ibis 1882, p. 539 ; Dalgleish, ih. 1890, p. 386 ; Salvin, Oat. Birds 
Brit. Mus., Vol. XXV., p. 406, 1896 ; Dresser, Birds of Europe, Vol. IX., p. 411, 
1896 ; Hall, Key Birds Austr., p. 94, 1899 ; Campbell, Nests and Eggs Austr. Birds, 
p. 906, 1901 ; Hall, Key Birds Austr., p. 94, 1906; Mathews, Handl. Birds Austral., 
p. 17, 1908 ; Godman, Monogr. Petrels, p. 197, 1908 ; Littler, Handb. Birds Tasm., 
p. 175, 1910. 
Distribution. ? Australian seas ; South Atlantic Ocean. 
Adult male. Head, hind-neck, sides of neck, back, and short scapulars ash-grey, becoming 
much paler on the upper tail-coverts and tail ; some of the outer tail-feathers 
whitish ; the long scapulars and entire wing black with pale brown on the inner 
webs of the primaries ; under-surface white, sides of body dusted and barred with 
grey ; under wing-coverts sooty -brown ; the feathers on the forehead and sides of the 
face have more or less white fringes ; “ BiU black, tarsus and basal third part 
of the feet flesh-colour, the remainder black ; iris brown ” (H. Giglioli). Total 
length 395 mm. ; cuhnen 29, wing 259, tail 112, tarsus 35. ^ 
Adult female. Similar to the adult male. 
Nest, Egg, and Breeding-season. Unknown. 
I CANNOT find any account of the life-history of this species. Gould found it 
plentiful between the 20th and 50th degrees of south latitude in the Atlantic. 
* The Plate is lettered (Estrelata mollis. 
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