Cape Petrel

Daption capense (Linnaeus, 1758)

Photo © Unknown

STATUS

Southern Oceans and Antarctica. Polytypic.

OVERVIEW

In a review of all seabirds by W. R. P. Bourne (Ibis 109: 141-167) the BOU (1971) under 'Introduction' p. xiv, adopted his recommendations and this species was not admitted.

---

NOT PROVEN

0). 1879 Meirionnydd Dyfi Estuary, shot, undated.

(J. H. Salter, Zoologist 1895: 254).

[Not in BOU, 1971].

History [Prof. J. H.] Salter (1895) in The Zoologist, 3rd series, Vol. XIX. p. 254, says: 'A bird in the collection of Sir Pryse Pryse at Gogerddau, Wales, was said to have been shot on the Dovey Estuary in 1879.'

0). 1894 Dorset Old Harry Rocks, Studland Bay, shot, early December.

(M. A. Mathew, Zoologist 1894: 396; Morrison, 1997).

[Not in BOU, 1971].

History M. A. Mathew (1894) in The Zoologist, 3rd series, Vol. XVIII. p. 396, undated, says: 'I was informed that a strange Petrel, pied all over, had been shot near the Old Harry Rocks, at Bournemouth, while it was following a foreign steamer. This was at the beginning of the present month. I have since received a photograph of the bird from Mr. Thomas Cooper, the birdstuffer at Poole, who had it to mount, and the bird is what I surmised it to be at the first, a "Cape Pigeon", Daption capensis. Pelagic birds, from all parts of the world, are liable to find themselves brought by accident to our shores, and the "Cape Pigeon", a well-known bird, is abundant in both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, and cannot be considered very extraordinary as a chance visitor.'