PRO CELL ARIA CCERULEA, Grmel.
Blue Petrel.
Procellaria caerulea, Gmel. Edit, o f Linn. Syst. Na t., tom. i. p. 560.—Lath. Ind. Orn., vol. ii. p. 827.—Gould in
Ann. and Mag. o f Nat. Hist., vol. xiii. p . 364.—L is t of B irds in Brit. Mus. Coll., p a r t iii. p. 165.
Blue Petrel, Lath. Gen. Syn., vol. vi. p. 415.—'Forst. Voy., vol. i. p. 91.— Lath. Gen. Hist., vol. x. p. 196.
Another Blue Petrel, Cook’s Voy., vol. i. p. 32.
Procellaria similis, Forst. Draw., No. 86.
----------- Forsteri, Smith, Zool. o f S. Africa, Birds, pi. 54.—Licht. Edit, of Forst. MSS., p. 59.
T h i s bird maybe distinguished from every other of the smaller Petrels by the conspicuous white tips of the
centre tail-feathers. It is a very powerful flier, and I observed it in every part o f the ocean I traversed between
the 40th and 55th degrees of south latitude, both in the Atlantic and Pacific.
As much confusion exists respecting this species, I may state that it is the Procellaria similis of Forster’s
Drawings, No. 86, and of Lichtenstein’s Edition of Forster’s MSS. p. 5 9; the Procellaria caerulea o f Gmelin,
Latham and Kulil; and the P . Forsteri of Smith, but not of Latham.
This, the least of the true Petrels, is generally seen in company with the fairy-like Prion Turtur, from
which when on the wing it can scarcely be distinguished, unless it passes sufficiently near for the observer
to note,the more, square form, and the white tips of the tail, which as well as the silvery ends o f the
secondaries and scapularies show very conspicuously. On my voyage to Australia I first observed it in
lat. 39° 23' S., long. 54° E . ; as we proceeded it gradually increased in numbers, and was very plentiful
off the coast of Van Diemen’s Land; I also met with it in my voyages from Hobart Town to South Australia
and Sydney; and on my return to England in the beginning of May 1840, I observed it to be very
abundant off the north-east coast of New Zealand; tolerably numerous on the 20th of May near Cape Horn,
lat. 50° S., long. 90° W .; plentiful midway between Tristan d’Acunha and the coast o f America; and in
the Atlantic Ocean on the 12th of June, lat. 41° S., long. 34i° W., a few were still hovering round the
ship.
The sexes are precisely alike, and may be thus described :—
Forehead, lores, cheeks, throat, centre of the chest, and all the under surface white; narrow space beneath
the eye, shoulders, and the outer webs of the first primaries deep brownish black ; back o f the neck,
sides of the chest, back, rump, wings and tail grey; the secondaries, scapularies and six middle tail-feathers
tipped with white; the two outer tail-feathers almost wholly white, and the shafts of all black ; bill dull
blackish brown, with a stripe o f blue-grey along the lower part o f the under mandible ; tarsi and toes delicate
blue ; interdigital membrane flesh-white traversed by red veins.
The figures represent the two sexes of the natural size.