FULMARS, SHEARWATERS, AND PETRELS 



85 



Antarctic, nesting in P'ebruary and laying a 

 single white egg in a burrow. F"or a winter tour 

 they wander thousands of miles and enjoy our 

 northern summer, from about June to October. 

 Being summer tourists with us. they are better 

 known than though they came with Boreas, and 

 for the same reason it is this species which is 

 generally observed in summer south of the lati- 

 tude of Maine, as the other species is a northern 

 breeder. Excursionists from New York City to 

 the lower bay often see these birds in consider- 

 able numbers. One year, on July 13. a roasting 

 hot day ashore. I was refreshed and delighted 

 with the constant sight of these Petrels from the 

 steamer flying between the heated wilderness of 

 bricks and the New Jersey shore resorts. .Some- 

 times I have almost lived with them while fish- 

 ing offshore from Chatham. ALiss. It was more 

 fun than fishing to throw out fish liver, which 

 floats, and draw the Petrels by scores around the 

 stern. Especially on calm days they would come 

 up so close that I have seen them caught bv 

 hand. It afforded splendid opportunity to watch 

 them at close range as they emulated the Apostle 

 Peter, from whom they are named because of 

 their curious propensity to " walk " on the water. 

 When caught they proved very unapostolic, and 

 vomited up liver or ejected thus or from their 

 nostrils some dark yellow, strongly scented oil. 

 As they flew and fed so close at hand, their 

 pretty little twittering was very noticeable. 



The marvel of these birds is their well-nigh 

 ceaseless activity. On a very few occasions, 

 when the weather was calm and lowery. especi- 

 ally before storm. I have seen flocks of them 

 huddled together upon the ocean " floor." At 

 other times, one sees onlv that eternallv restless 



Photo by H. K. Job ' -i lluugl.tun Mifflin Co. 



WILSON'S PETRELS 



" Walking " on the water 



wandering, quartering over the ocean to pick up 

 oily refuse or small marine life. \N'hen waves 

 rage and break, they evidently must remain on 

 the wing day and night. This is a life onlv for 

 those to whom weariness is foreign. 



Herbert K. Joh. 



LEACH'S PETREL 

 Oceanodroma leucorhoa ( I 'icillot ) 



A. O. v. -Xuii 



Other Names.— Common Fork-tailed Petrel; Leach's 

 Fork-tailed Petrel ; White-rumped Petrel. 



General Description.— Length. 8 inches. Color, 

 brownish-black. Legs, short; tail, forked, outer 

 feathers more than i/j inch longer than middle pair. 



Color. — Brownish-black, grayer on wing-coverts and 

 below : primaries, black ; upper tail-coverts, pure white ; 

 bill and feet, black; iris, brown. 



Nest and Eggs. — N'est: In burrows on the ground. 

 Eggs: Single, white, unmarked, or wreathed with tine 

 li.ght red spots around the larger end. 



Distribution. — Both coasts of North America ; 

 breeds from tlie Aleutian and Copper islands. Bering 

 Sea. south to Sitka, and from southern Greenland south 

 to Maine and the Hebrides ; casual in migration south 

 to \'irginia. 



Leach's Petrel and Wilson's Petrel are supple- 

 mentary each of the other. The former breeds 

 north, the other south, but the latter meets its 

 relative in the summer near its breeding grounds. 

 The fact that I have never been able — perhaps 

 partly from lack of abundance of opportunity • — 

 to meet any Petrels off our Atlantic coast in 

 winter makes me wonder whether some day 

 Leach's may not be found to return the compli- 



ment and visit its relative in its remote southern 

 home. 



All the Petrels I have identified ofl^ southern 

 New England shores in summer have been Wil- 

 son's, which is natural enough, since Leach's is 

 not known to breed south of Maine. There and 

 northward 1 have found it nesting. Hundreds of 

 them resort to the same barren islands. In the 

 turf each pair digs a little burrow the size of a 



