THE BIRDS OE AUSTRALIA. 
Mr. A. J. Campbell* records it breeding on Macquarie Island in October 
and November, and on Cliffy Island, off Wilson’s Promontory, in July. On 
the latter island they come ashore to scrape out or prepare their nest-burrows, 
during June and July. 
The bird figured and described is a male, collected on the Chatham Islands. 
Apparently Solander did not meet with this Petrel, and it was not dis- 
covered until the second voyage of Captain Cook, when Forster noted it in the 
South Atlantic, then remarked the httle diving Petrels off Kerguelen Island, 
and on p. 189 {Forster's Voyage, 1777) named it Procellaria tridactyla ; but 
as no description was then offered, this is of interest only as a nude name. 
In 1785 Latham described the Diving Petrel {Gen. Synops Birds, Vol. III., 
p. 413) as follows : — 
“ Size of the Little AuTc, and of a stout make, not unlike that bird ; length 
eight inches and a quarter. The bill nearly an inch long, stout and black ; 
the middle of the under mandible white on the sides ; irides dusky blue ; the 
plumage of the upper parts is black brown ; beneath white, except the chin, 
which is black ; the skin of that part, and of the throat, is loose, serving as a 
pouch, as in the Frigate Pelican ; the wings are rather shorter than the tail ; 
the legs of a blueish green ; webs black ; the spur at the back part wanting. 
“ These are met with in Queen Charlotte’s Sound, and other parts of New 
Zealand.” 
This description was apparently drawn up from Forster’s drawing. In 
that drawing, which is black and white, the ink used for the pouch extends so 
as to make a “ black chin ” appearance. No one handling a bird would state 
“ chin black,” as it is pure white. Latham does not state that he had a 
specimen, and Forster’s drawing was made from a bird in Queen Charlotte 
Sound. 
Upon Latham’s description, Gmelin {Syst. Nat, p. 560, 1789) founded his 
Procellaria urinatrix ; — 
Pr. ex atro fusca subtus alba, rostro mentoque nigris, pedibus ex caeruleo viridibus, 
tridactylis. 
Diving Petrel. Lath. syn. Ill, 2, p. 413, n. 19. 
Habitat gregibus numerosis circa novam Seelandiam, poUices longa, alces 
magnitudine, egregie urinano. 
Mandibula inferior ad media latera alba ; irides obscure caemleae ; menti gulaeque peUis 
laxa. 
Not until 1824 were any other forms named, when Quoy and Gaimard 
{Voy. ^ JJranie' et ^Physic.,' Zook, p. 135) described Procellaria herard as 
here given : — 
Procellaria minuta, corpore supra nigricante, infra albido ; rostro nigro, maculis albis 
notato ; pedibus plumbei colons. 
* Neats and Eggs Austr. Birds, p. 920, 1901. 
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