282 THE BIRDS OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



two brown patches converging above the white rump. The 

 manner of flight, the habit of following steamers, of picking 

 food from the water, holding its long wings elevated above its 

 back as it almost alights, paddling with its feet, and the nature 

 of its oily planktonic food agree with those described for the 

 Storm-Petrel. I followed one storm-driven bird along the 

 shore, and never once saw it stand. When it stopped for a 

 moment, it sank upon the breast, its tarsi doubled beneath it, 

 but it persistently strove to rise against the fierce west wind. 

 Raising its wings, but beating them but Httle, it ran into the 

 teeth of the wind until it was lifted, but immediately this 

 happened the gusts heeled it over and whirled it a few inches 

 above the sand towards the dunes ; in a few yards it came to 

 the ground and was helplessly rolled over. 



The nesting holes, the habits during the breeding season,'and 

 the nocturnal note, appear to be as in the other species, but 

 actual information is scanty. The single egg is very like that 

 of the Storm, though slightly larger ; eggs are often laid at the 

 end of May, a little earlier than those of the other bird. The 

 nestling has long sooty-black down, darker than that of the 

 Storm. There is no marked difference between mature and 

 immature dress. Length, 8*5 ins. Wing, 6 ins. Tarsus, 0*9 in. 



Madeiran Petrel. Oceanodroma castro (Harcourt). 



Harcouit's Petrel, as it is often called, nests in the Azores, 

 Madeira, and other islands off the west African coast, and also 

 in the Hawaiian and Galapagos groups in the Pacific. In 

 winter it has strayed to western Europe and has three times 

 been met with on the south coast of England, twice in Kent 

 and once in Hampshire. Except that its tail is less forked, and 

 that some of the white upper tail-coverts have black tips, this 

 bird difiers little from Leach's Petrel. Its bill and legs are 

 black, its iridcs dark brown. Length, 8 ins. Wing, 6*i ins. 

 Tarsus, 0*82 in. 



