LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN PETRELS AND PELICANS, 151 



stone walls near his tent, and he declared that the bird had been found sitting 

 on an egg, although the latter was broken, fllr. Rowley joined forces with 

 him and spent the best part of the day tearing down the walls of this and 

 neighboring inclosures. Three more specimens were found along with consid- 

 erable numbers of homochroa, which occupied the same area ; and two eggs 

 of each species, the first of the season, rewarded the search. Although pre- 

 cisely similar conditions obtain elsewhere, no other Kaeding petrels were en- 

 countered on the Farallons. 



Eggs. — The egg of the Beal petrel is practically indistinguishable 

 from that of the Leach petrel, as might be expected in a subspecies. 

 It is dull white and nearly immaculate, or with a ring or sprinkling 

 of minute dots of reddish brown or purplish about the larger end. 



The measurements of 32 eggs, in various collections, average 31.7 

 by 20.3 millimeters ; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 34 

 by 24, 33 by 24.5, 29.5 by 22.5, and 31.5 by 21.6 millimeters. 



I have not seen the downy young but suppose that it is practically 

 indistinguishable from that of the Leach petrel. 



Little of interest is know of the life history of these birds outside 

 of their breeding grounds, where they spend the greater part of the 

 year wandering over the ocean wastes. They are f recjuently seen by 

 navigators, but the various species are not easily recognized and it 

 is only on the rare occasions when thej^ are collected and recorded 

 that we learn anything about their ranges and migrations. The 

 general movement is, of course, southward in the fall and north- 

 ward again in the spring. 



DISTRIBUTION. 



Breeding range. — Pacific coast islands from extreme southern 

 Alaska southward along the coasts of British Columbia, Washington, 

 Oregon, and California (at least as far as Mateo County and prob- 

 ably on the Farallones). This subspecies intergrades with leucorhoa 

 somewhere in southern Alaska, perhaps in the Sitka region. 



Range. — Unknown. Probably southward. 



Egg dates. — Washington : Eighteen records, June 9 to July 11 ; 

 nine records, June 11 to 18. California : Five records. May 30 to 

 June 24. Alaska : Four records, June 29 to August 2. 



OCEANODROMA MACRODACTYLA W. Bryant. 



GUADALUPE PETREL. 



HABITS. 



This petrel seems to be confined in the breeding season to the 

 island of the same name, off the coast of Lower California, and it 

 does not seem to wander far from Guadalupe Island on its migra- 



