Order PROCELLARIIFORMES. 
Family PR0CELLARIID2E. 
No. 53. 
PAGODROMA NTVEA. 
(CANDIDA.) 
SMALL-BILLED SNOWY PETREL. 
(Plate 39.) 
Pagodroma Bonaparte, Comptes Rendus Acad. Sci. Paris, Vol. XLII., p. 768, May 1858. Type 
(by monotypy) : Procellaria nivea Forster. 
Procellaria nivea Forster, Voy. Round World, Yol. I., pp. 96-98, 1777 (pref. March 1st): 
lat. 52° S., long. 20° E. 
Procellaria Candida Peale, U.S. Explor. Exped., Vol. VIII., p. 295, in or before Oct. 1848 : 
Arctic Regions (S. lat. 64°, long. 104° W.); Fig. Cassin, ib., 2nd Ed., pi. 42, 1858. 
Pagodroma nivea Sharpe, “ Voy. Erebus and Terror,” p. 37, pi. 34, 1875 ; Salvin, Cat. Birds Brit. 
Mus., Vol. XXV., p. 419, 1896, pref. Dec. 6th, 1895 ; Sharpe, Rep. Coll. Nat. Hist. 
“ Southern Cross,” Aves, p. 148, pi. x., fig3. 1-3 (eggs), 1902 ; Wilson, Nat. Antarct. 
Exped., Vol. II., Aves, p. 88, 1907 ; Mathews, Handl. Birds Austral., p. 17, Jan. 1908 ; 
Godman, Monogr. Petrels, p. 254, pi. 73, April 1909 ; Campbell, Emu, Vol. XXIV., p. 77, 
July 4th, 1924. 
Pagodroma nivea Candida Mathews, Birds Austr., Vol. II., p. 177, July 31st, 1912 ; id., Syst. 
Av. Australas., p. 123, 1927. 
Distribution. South Pole (Cape Adare to Australia [casual]). 
Adult male. Entirely snow-white, with the shafts of the primaries and tail-feathers yellowish ; 
a large black spot in front of the eye ; bill black with a tinge of blue on the sides, and 
flesh-coloured along the cutting edges and at the gape ; eyes very dark brown ; legs, 
feet, webs and claws all dark bluish-black. Total length 343 mm. : culmen (exposed) 21, 
wing 267, tail 117, tarsus 33. Figured. Collected at sea, S. lat. 62° 52', E. long. 
159° 25', on the 31st of December, 1898, in the pack-ice. 
Adult female. Similar to the adult male. 
Young about one-third grown. Clad in long fluffy down which almost conceals the feathers 
appearing on the wings and tail; the down is of a lavender-grey tint on the back and 
chest, darker on the head, and dull white on the abdomen (South Orkney Islands, 
January 28th, 1904). 
Nest. At the end of a burrow two to six feet long, or in the crevices of rocks. The hen sits 
some weeks before she lays, and the place chosen may be either a few feet above the sea 
level or as high as 1,400 feet up a mountain side. Intruders are greeted with the customary 
Petrel vomit, which consists of half-digested food. 
Egg. Clutch one. Bluish-white in colour. 50—56 by 36-41 mm. 
Breeding-season. November (Cape Adare) to December (Robertson Bay). Young found in 
January. 
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