84 



BIRDS OF AMERICA 



WILSON'S PETREL 

 Oceanites oceanicus {Kuhl) 



A. O. U. Number 109 



Other Names. — Common Stormy Petrel; Mother 

 Carey's Chicken ; Long-legged Storm Petrel. 



General Description. — Length, 7 inches. Color, 

 dark suoty-bruwn. Lcc/s. lony and stilt-like: tail, 

 square. 



Color. — Body, dark sooty-brown ; wings and tail, 

 black ; wing-coverts, pale gray ; upper and under tail- 

 coverts, sides of rump, and base of tail, white; bill and 



fet--;, black, latter with a large yelloiv sf^ot on webs; 

 iris, brown. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest : In burrows or in crevices 

 on -Antarctic islands in February. Eggs: i, white. 



Distribution. — South polar regions north to Labra- 

 dor and British Isles; common of? the north Atlantic 

 coast of America from May to September; accidental 

 in Ontario. 



Nearly everyone who crosses the Atlantic or 

 makes a coasting voyage must have noticed those 

 tiny dark-colored birds about the size of Swal- 

 lowrs. with a conspicuotis jjatch (if white on the 

 rump. On rapidly fluttering wing they circle 

 about the vessel, or wander irregularly over the 

 waves. At times they hover at some particular 

 spot, pattering their feet in the unstable element 

 while a-wing. These are Petrels, often called 

 " Mother Carey's Chickens." They are so dis- 

 tinct from all other birds that no one who gets 

 a fair look could possibly mistake them. The 

 first ones are sighted several miles off shore. 



and they are quite inclined to follow vessels 

 far out on the open ocean. They are birds whose 

 home is on the ocean waves. Some of their scien- 

 tific Latin names appropriately describe them as 

 " runners on the sea." 



Two species represent their kind on our At- 

 lantic coast. One is slightly the larger with a 

 forked tail, and is known as Leach's Petrel. The 

 other, which has the tail square or slightly 

 rounded at the end, is Wilson's Petrel. It is the 

 species mostly seen off shore during our summer 

 season. Like their relatives the Shearwaters, 

 thev breed on the far southern islands of the 



m 



Drawing by R. I. Brasher 



WILSON'S PETREL (J nat. size) 

 Its home is on the ocean's waves 



