404 THE TUBE-NOSED SWIMMERS — TUBINAEES. 



Sp, Char. Adult: Above, sooty-black or dusky-fuliginous, the upper tail-coverts, except the 

 ends of iliu longer feathers, wiili the sides of the crissuni, white. Lower parts, with anterior 

 portion I if the head, grayish-fuliginous. Bill deep black ; feet blackish, the legs sometimes more 

 brown. 



Wing, 4.50-4.90 inches ; tail, 2.40-2.60 ; culmen, .40-. 45 ; tarsus, .90 ; middle toe, .60-.65. 



The Least Petrel — supposed to be the original " Mother Carey's Chicken " of the 

 sailors — appears to be an exclusively Atlantic species. Common nearly all the 

 year in various portions of the ISTorthern Atlantic, it is rarely found near the land, 

 or only when breeding, or during the prevalence of severe storms. At certain seasons 

 of the year, especially during the latter part of summer, it is found just outside of 

 the coast of Maine and Nova Scotia, and in the Bay of Fundy. So far as I am aware, 

 it breeds only on different portions of the Atlantic coast of Europe and in the Medi- 

 terranean, and is not known to breed on any part of the American coast. It has also 

 been met with on the eastern coast of Africa. It is found in Iceland ; but, according 

 to Professor Newton, it is evidently of infrequent occurrence there. It is more 

 common on the Faroe Islands during the breeding-season, its principal stations being 

 the northern islands of Fugloe and Naalsoe, near Thorslaon. Small flocks are seen 

 in autumn on the coast of Norway, and occasional stragglers are driven into the 

 fiords. It has not been found breeding on the Scandinavian coasts. It is occasionally 

 seen near the coast of Sweden, but is not known to occur in any part of Finland. It 

 is quite common in the breeding-season on the coast of Scotland, and breeds in con- 

 siderable numbers on several of the islands, being met with more or less abundantly 

 in all three groups of the western and northern islands, in Skye, Staffa, lona, etc. It 

 is common in the Hebrides, and its breeding-places are numerous around most of the 

 larger islands of that group. Its most southern breeding-place on the coast of Scot- 

 land is Ailsa Craig. It also breeds on certain parts of the coast of England and of 

 Ireland — as off the Isle of Man, Lundy Island, the Scilly Islands, the Channel 

 Islands, and many other islets. 



j\Ir. T. L. Powys met with it in the Ionian Sea, near Pagania, in December, 1857. 

 Mr. C. A. Wright (" Ibis," 18G4j mentions finding it resident all the year about Malta, 

 and very common on the south side of the island ; breeding also on the neighboring 

 Island of Filfola, where he found it laying a single white egg, without any nest. 



^Ir. A. G. j\lore speaks of having found it breeding on the Scilly Islands, on lona, 

 Staffa, in Skye, and in all the several groups of the western and northern islands. 

 Sir William Jardine is quoted as having seen it apparently breeding on the Isle 

 of Man. 



Captain Sperling (" Ibis," 1868) states that he met with it on the eastern coast of 

 Africa, where, between the latitudes of Zambesi and Zanzibar, it appears to replace 

 the mdanofjaster. The mouth of the Zambesi nearly marks its most southern range 

 in that region. 



Mr. Howard Saunders (" Ibis," 1871) states that it, or a variety of it, breeds in 

 great abundance on the Hormigas, Isla Grossa, and other islands just outside the 

 entrance to the Mar Menor. 



In other parts of Europe, in the interior, stragglers of this species have been met 

 with ; but in all instances their appearance has been fortuitous, and owing to their 

 inability to resist the violence of storms. In this way specimens have been obtained 

 in Denmark, North Germany, P>elgium, Holland, etc. 



This bird is said also to breed on islands on the coast of Brittany, on others near 

 Marseilles, on the small islands near Sardinia, and in various other localities, both on 



