WILSON'S STORMY PETREL. 



(Thalassidroma Wilsonii, Bonap. Synops. No. 308. Stormy Petrel, 

 (Procellaria pelagica,) Wilson, vii. p. 90. pi. CO. fig. 6. Procel- 

 laria Wilsonii, Bonap. Journ. Acad. Nat. Sc. Pliilad. vi. p. 231. pi. 

 9. [lower figure.] Phil. Museum, No. 3034.) 



Sp. Charact. — Deep sooty black ; upper tail coverts wholly white ; 

 tail nearly even, the wings extending a little beyond its extremity ; 

 tube of the nostrils recurved ; tarsus 1^ inches long ; a yellow 

 spot on the webs of the toes. 



This ominous harbinger of the deep is seen nearly 

 throughout the whole expanse of the Atlantic, from New- 

 foundland to the tropical parts of America, whence it 

 wanders even to Africa and the coasts of Spain. From the 

 ignorance and superstition of mariners, an unfavorable 

 prejudice has long been entertained against these adven- 

 turous and harmless wanderers, and as sinister messengers 

 of the storm, in which they are often involved with the 

 vessel they follow, they have been very unjustly stigmatized 



