28o THE BIRDS OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



chief oceanic food, however, consists of small crustaceans and 

 cephalopods, and for these, churned up by the screw, it follows 

 a steamer, and not, like a gull, hoping for scraps. Small fish 

 are eaten, and during the nesting season a considerable amount 

 of sorrel, but there is no evidence that insects are taken, though 

 the bird's actions suggest fly-catching. In a rough sea it swims 

 easily, rising on the advancing wave and apparently glissading 

 to the trough. Its wing-beats are not hurried, it skims and 

 glides, beating deliberately, more like a tern than an auk. 



In most books the petrels generally are figured standing on 

 their \vebbed toes, and specimens are usually mounted in this 

 position, yet it is doubtful if the Storm-Petrel and others of its 

 relatives can stand. A captive bird in the possession of Dr. 

 C B. Ticehurst never stood, but rested on the tarsus or whole 

 length of the foot, and even walked or shuffled in this position. 

 When rising on the wing it raised itself to the toes with forward 

 steps and uplifted wings. Audubon says of Leach's Petrel that 

 it " walks as if about to fall down, but with considerable ease, 

 and at times with rapidity," probably referring to this forward 

 shuffle. Detailed observations of the habits of the Storm- 

 Petrel on land are difficult to obtain, for during the breeding 

 season the bird is largely nocturnal ; storm-driven victims are 

 usually so weak as to be unreliable. 



The bird comes ashore in April or May, and the single egg is 

 laid as a rule late in June, in a burrow in turf, a hole in rock, 

 or beneath a litter of stones. The nest, w^hen any is made, is a 

 small collection of wet grass. The chalky-white egg is usually 

 zoned with fine reddish specks (Plate 153). In large colonies 

 the turf is honeycombed with burrows, some superficial. On 

 the water the Petrel is a silent bird, but at night at the nesting- 

 colony it is noisy in flight ; Mrs. Gordon says its note is "very 

 husky, and sometimes ends in a sort of shriek," a repeated 

 ciich-ah. Mr. N. H. Joy heard no sound from flying birds, but a 

 purring noise, like the churr of a distant Nightjar, came after 



