PROCELLARIA HASITATA, Kuni.
Great Grey Petrel.

Procellaria hasitata, Kuhl, Forst. Drawings, No. 92.—Gould in Ann. and Mag. of Nat. Hist., vol. xiii. p. 364.

 

Tuts species, which is very similar to the Puffinus cinereus, enjoys so wide a range of habitat that it may be
said to be universally diffused between the 30th and 55th degrees of S. latitude. I first observed it in lat.
38° 41' S., long. 36° 30’ W., on the 16th of August 1838; during the next five days not more than a single
specimen was seen at one time; on the 21st it was very numerous, and the day being nearly calm I had a
boat lowered, and succeeded in killing several in lat. 39° 23’ S., long. 54° W. Its powers of flight are very
great, and in its passage over the ocean it often mounts higher in the air than most other members of the
group, and descends again with the utmost eagerness to seize any fat substance thrown overboard. Its
actions and flight differ slightly from those of the other Petrels, and more closely resemble those of the
Albatroses.

I subsequently observed this bird mplate 4 1275s longs tla Wee and obtained specimens on my passage
from Hobart Town to Sydney.

On my voyage homeward it appeared in considerable numbers during some strong heavy gales which
occurred on the 6th of May 1840 in lat. 40° S., long. 154° W., and it was very abundant in the South Atlantic
on the 12th of June in lat. 41°S., long. 342° W.

Little or no difference is observable in the sexes, but the female is rather smaller than the male.

Crown of the head, ear-coverts, nape and upper surface, tips of the tail-feathers, tips of the under tail-
coverts and the primaries dark brownish grey ; throat, chest and under surface white; irides dark brown;
culmen and nostrils black ; tip of the upper mandible blackish horn-colour; tomia whitish horn-colour ;
lower part of the under mandible blackish horn-colour ; feet white, tinged with blue, the outer toe brownish
black.

The Plate represents a male of the natural size.