554 



ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 



Description. 



The general color of the plumage is dark sooty-brown; primaries and tail black- 

 ish-brown, the latter white at the base; some of the outer secondaries and the 

 secondary coverts grayish-ash, ending with grayish-white; rump, sides of the abdo- 

 men and exterior lower tail coverts, white; bill black; iris dark-brown; tarsi and 

 feet black, with the webs yellow except at the margin. 



This species is somewhat smaller than T. Leachii, and more delicate in form ; the 

 bill is much weaker: it may readily be distinguished by the greater proportion of 

 white on the under tail coverts and on the sides at the base of the tail, together with 

 its much longer tarsi and yellow webs ; tail nearly even. 



Length, seven and one-fourth inches; wing, six; tail, three-quarters; bill, seven- 

 twelfths inch; tarsus, one and three-eighths inch. 



Ilab. — Off the Atlantic coast from the Gulf of Mexico to Baffin's Bay. 



This species is rare on our coast, and, to my knowledge, 

 does not breed within the limits of New-England shores. 

 Audubon says, — 



" "Wilson's Petrel breeds on some small islands situated off the 

 southern extremity of Nova Scotia, called ' Mud Islands,' but which 

 are formed of sand and light earth, scantily covered with grass. 



Thither the birds re- 

 sort in great numbers 

 about the beginning of 

 June, and form bur- 

 rows of the dejjth of 

 two or two and a half 

 feet, in the bottom of 

 which is laid a single 

 white egg ; a few bits 

 of dry grass, scarcely 

 deserving the name of 

 a nest, having been placed for its reception. The egg measures an 

 inch and a half in length by seven-eighths of an inch in breadth ; 

 is almost equally rounded at both ends. ... On wing, this 

 species is more lively than the Forked-tailed, but less so than the 

 common Stormy Petrel. Its notes are different from that of the 

 Forked-tailed Petrel, and resemble the syllables hee-re-hee-hee. 

 They are more frequently emitted at night than by day." 



