10 PROCELLARITDiE.
was unsuccessful. A bird referred by Dr. E. Coues to this
species, but originally described by Mr. G. N. Lawrence
(Ann. Lyc. N. York, iv. p. 474), under the name of Procel-
laria meridionalis, was found floating, wounded, on a salt
lagoon on the eastern coast of Florida in the winter of 1846.
The following is the description, by Prof. Alfred Newton,
of the apparently adult bird whose capture in Norfolk has
procured for it a place in this volume :—“ The whole of the
beak is black : from the crown of the head to the nape of
the neck the feathers are white at the base, broadly tipped
with dark brown, so as to present, except at the edges of
the patch, which is nearly circular, a uniform surface of the
latter colour ; in front and below the eye are a few greyish-
black feathers extending over the ear-coverts ; the orbits are
surrounded with a ring of sepia-brown feathers. The forehead,
face, neck, breast, belly, sides, and under tail-coverts
are nearly pure white, but there are also a few dark feathers
on the flanks. The back and shoulders are covered with
brownish-grey and blackish-brown feathers, the former appearing
to have been but lately assumed, but many of the
latter are * sedgy ’ and worn at the edges : all these feathers
are white at the base, but that colour does not show on
the surface. The rump and upper tail-coverts are white,
the feathers of the latter elongated. The tail is rounded,
and consists of twelve feathers, the outer pair white, edged
and broadly tipped with blackish-brown, the next four pair
are similarly coloured, but only slightly edged, the tips of
each pair being darker as they approach the middle ; the
shafts of the quills in all these are white; the middle pair
of quills are brownish-black nearly all their length, then-
basal being white, and have their shafts corresponding in
colour to their webs. The wing-coverts are blackish-brown,
bordered with a lighter shade of that colour, the borders of
the middle and lower coverts being so broad as to appear like
two light-coloured bars across the wing; the quill-feathers
are blackish-brown, with shafts of the same, the first quill-
feather being the longest; the under surface of the wings,
as far as can be seen, is white. The naked parts of the
tibiae, the tarsi, and the basal halves of the toes and interdigital
membranes appear to have been dusky-yellow, the
rest of the feet and claws are black. Mr. Newcome tells
me that the specimen was a female, and when fresh killed
the irides were deep brown or hazel colour.”
The whole length is sixteen inches : from the carpal joint
to the end of the longest wing-feather rather more than
twelve inches. The length of the naked portion of the tibiae
is rather more than half an inch; of the tarsus rather less
than an inch and a half; length of the middle toe, without
the claw, about one inch and three-quarters.
The bird in the British Museum, which is believed to be
immature, has the crown and nape blackish-brown ; the
sides of the forehead white, marked with brown ; hind neck,
fore part of the face, entire throat and underparts white ;
back and upper parts dull brown, the margins of the dorsal
feathers lighter; quills dark brown ; tail dark brown, except
at the base, where it is dull white, very much rounded in
shape.
An example of the Petrel familiarly known as the Cape
Pigeon (Daption capense), is recorded by Mr. A. G-. More
(Ibis, 1882, p. 846) as having been shot near Dublin on the
80th October, 1881 ; and it is stated by Degland and Gerbe
that three specimens have been obtained in France. There
does not, however, appear to be any adequate reason for including
this species among the Birds of Great Britain, or
even of Europe. Its home is essentially the southern
hemisphere; and although it is known to follow ships, for
the sake of food, for a considerable distance, yet it is equally
certain that many birds, captured with hook and line, are
then carried far beyond their usual area before being restored
to liberty.