LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN PETRELS AND PELICANS. 125 



waited until my patience was exhausted, and alw^ays tlie same " cog " was 

 slipped, at exactly the same interval, and the bird was as fresh as ever when 

 I left it with its untinished song. Another note of this species which is occa- 

 sionally heard from the same rock pile and which gives one a clew to the 

 author, is exactly like the cry of the two petrels above mentioned, but is higher 

 pitched and more hastily uttered, giving one the idea of a smaller bird, as 

 indeed it is, the least petrel (Halocyptena microsoma) . 



The least petrel should be easily recognized in flight by its small 

 size, its wedge-shaped tail, and its uniformly dark color, without any 

 white areas. 



DISTRIBUTION. 



Breeding range. — Known to breed only on San Benito Island off 

 the Pacific coast of Lower California. 



Range. — Pacific coast of middle America, from Lower California 

 to Ecuador. 



Egg dates. — San Benito Island : Twentj^-four records, July 2 to 27 ; 

 twelve records, July 25 to 27. 



HYDROBATES PELAGICUS (Linnaeus). 

 STORMY PETREL. 



HABITS. 



The storm petrel or least petrel, as it was formerly called, is prob- 

 ably the original " Mother Carey's chicken " of the sailors. It is one 

 of the smallest of the petrels and wanders over the north Atlantic 

 Ocean chiefly on the eastern side. On the American coast it is said 

 to occur on the Newfoundland banks and off the coast of Nova Scotia. 

 It has been said to breed on Sable Island and at various places along 

 the coasts of Newfoundland and Labrador, but such reports need 

 confirmation, as there is not a single authentic American breeding 

 record. It is abundant on the eastern Atlantic where it has long 

 been familiarly known to sailors as a harbinger of storms, a mere 

 superstition, of course. Much has been written about it, from which 

 I shall quote. 



Nesting. — Audubon (1840) and several later writers have quoted 

 freely from Hewitson's observations, in his British Oology, from 

 which I have selected the following passage : 



Before leaving Shetland I again visited the island of Oxna, and though so 

 late as the 30th of June, they were only just beginning to lay their eggs. In 

 Foula they breed in the holes in the clilf, at a great height above the sea ; but 

 here under stones which form the beach, at a depth of three or four feet, or 

 more, according to that of the stones ; as they go down to the earth, beneath 

 them, on which to lay their eggs. In walking over the surface, I could hear 

 them, very distinctly, singing in a sort of warbling chatter, a good deal like 

 swallows when fluttering above our chimneys, but harsher ; and in this way, 

 by listening attentively, was guided to their retreat, and, after throwing out 



