Order PR0CELLAR1IF0RMES. 
Family PROCELLARIIDAS. 
No. 110. 
COOKILARIA (COOKII) NIGRIPENNIS. 
BLACK-WINGED PETREL. 
(Plate 81.) 
(Estrelata nigripennis Rothschild, Bull. Brit. Orn. Club., Vol. I., p. lvii., July 4th, 1893, 
Kermadcc Island. Hutton, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1893, p. 750. Buller, Trans. New Zeal. 
Inst., 1S94, Vol. XXVII., p. 123, May, 1895. Salvin, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., Vol. XXV., 
p. 409, 1896 (pref. Dec. 16th, 1895). Ogilvie Grant, Ibis, 1905, Oct., p. 555. Buller, Birds 
New Zealand, Suppl., Vol. I., p. 113, 1905. Godman, Monogr. Petrels, pt. m, p. 214, pi. 59, 
Sept., 1908. Iredale, Emu, Vol. X., pt. i., p. 13, July 1st, 1910. 
(Estrelata cook'd Cheeseman, Trans. New Zeal. Inst., 1890, Vol. XXIII,, p. 224, May, 1891. 
Pterodroma cookii nigripennis Mathews, Birds Austr., Vol. II., pt. 2, p. 168, July 1st, 1912 ; 
Murphy, Amer. Mus. Novit., No. 370, p. 4, Sept. 6tli, 1929. 
(Estrelata nigricollis Bianchi, Faune Russie, Oiseaux, Vol. I., pt. ii, p. 727, Jan. 1913, error only. 
Cookilaria cookii nigripennis Mathews and Iredale, Ibis, 1913, April, p. 233 ; Mathews, Syst. Av. 
Austral., p. 123, 1927 (June 13th). 
Pterodroma nigripennis Oliver, New Zealand Birds, p. 145, Aug. 1930. 
Distribution. Kermadec Islands, Rapa Island, Austral. Group. 
Adult male. General colour above grey, darkest on the top of the head and rump ; fore-head 
mottled dark grey and white ; top of head dark grey, nape darker ; mantle and back dark 
grey ; rump feathers edged with blackish-grey ; upper tail-coverts light grey ; tail-feathers 
grey, blackish at the tip and white at the base ; wings blackish ; quills blackish, the inner 
edge of the inner web whitish towards the base, this white area extending on the other 
primaries ; greater wing-coverts like the quills ; a black spot in front of the eye and extending 
below it; lores, cheeks and throat white, like the abdomen, axillaries and under tail-coverts ; 
sides of the neck and a wide band almost meeting on the chest, light grey with white bases 
to the feathers, giving a w’avy appearance which extends, in an ever-lessening degree, down the 
sides of the body : under aspect of primaries black ; under wing-coverts white, with a line of 
dark greyish-black feathers running round the wring, widest on the top coverts.. Eyes black, 
hill black, tarsus and upper part of the foot flesh colour, remainder black, including the 
whole length of the outer toe. Total length 330 mm. : culmen 24, wing 223, tail 98, tarsus 30. 
Figured. ^ Collected on Sunday Island on November 24th, 1912, by W. S. Bell. 
The sexes are alike. 
Iredaie, writing of the Kermadec Islands, says that it breeds more numerously 
than cervicalis on Sunday Island, while colonies exist on the outlying islets, as 
well as Macauley and Curtis Island. This is a most lovely and gentle little biid, 
never bit in g hard when handled. On January 4th a colony was examined, and fresh 
eggs were numerous, very few r being hard set, while in many holes birds, but no 
eggs, were found. On February 29th downy young were noted and there were 
miniatures of those of cervicalis , though the adult plumage of those tv o species 
is very different. 
Of cervicalis the same author says that it has not yet been found bleeding 
elsewhere than on Sunday Island and it breeds only very sparingly on the island. 
It was estimated that less than 500 pairs were breeding. Sea erec co onies 
exist all over the island, but in no case are these of any extent and none on the 
outlying islets. It is not solitary, the colonies are always placed on the lidges, 
and it would be a very exceptional bird that burrowed at the base of a „ ' * 
It does not arrive until October and leaves in May. 1 oiwiy young 
examined on March 29th : it was of a beautiful do\e-gie\ 1 iqin 1 
breast. Fully fledged young were noted on May 3rd. (Iredale, Emu 1910.) 
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