LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN PETRELS AND PELICANS. 135 



which it picks up off the surface of the ^\Tter. Turner (1886) 

 says : '' The Eskimo name of this bird is O Ku Ik, and means oil 

 eater. They assert that this bird skims the Avater for traces of oil 

 Avhich maj" have floAved from a Avounded seal or whale, and that 

 large flocks of them will follow the floating carcass of a seal for that 

 purpose." Apparently oil is the principal food of this and other 

 petrels for when caught or killed large quantities of oily juices 

 flow from the mouths and nostrils, soiling the plumages beyond re- 

 pair. The 3'oung are fed by squirting this fluid into their mouths. 



Behavior. — The forked-tailed petrel in flight is not easily mis- 

 taken for anything else, as the soft, blended, pearl gray colors of 

 its plumage are conspicuous and distinctive. The flight of this 

 petrel, like others of its genus, is light, rapid, and erratic, flitting 

 hither and thither close to the surface of the waves, often with its 

 feet extended as if walking on the water. The following account, 

 evidently taken from Doctor Pickering's journal, Avritten off the 

 coast of Oregon in April, 1840, is given b}' Baird, Brewer, and 

 Ridgway (1884) : 



Generally, they reminded him of Wilson's petrel, but their wings seemed 

 longer and their movements appeared to be more rapid ; in fact, they appeared 

 to resemble the larger Procellaridae. Occasionally this bird sailed in its flight, 

 but during the greater part of the time it moved by very rapidly flexing its 

 wings in the same manner as Wilson's petrel. It proved to be not difficult to 

 capture, and several specimens were taken with hook and line. The bird^ 

 would dive a foot or two after the bait, and made use of their wings in and 

 TUider the water, from which they evidently had not the difficulty in rising 

 which is observable in the albatross. Their power of swimming seemed rather 

 feeble, yet they alighted in the water without any apparent hesitation. The 

 dead body of one of their companions having been thrown overboard, the other 

 birds clustered about it with as much avidity as around any other food. This 

 bird uttered a faint cry when it was taken on board. 



Mr. Eichard C. McGregor (1906) Avhile anchored in Akutan 

 Harbor in the Aleutian Islands, on August 19, 1901, witnessed a 

 peculiar performance of this species in a dense fog at night, which 

 he described in his notes as follows: 



At about 9.30 a petrel was brought down (to my room) by the quarter- 

 master ; in a short time three more and then an anklet were produced by 

 Davie (Q. M.). Going on deck I found 0. furcata flying about the masthead 

 light — there were probably five or six in sight. In a short time I had a dozen 

 laid out. There was a moderate fog at first and as this thickened the birdi? 

 increased in numbers. Fully a dozen were in sight like so many moths. They 

 struck the rigging, bridge, and wheelhouse and fluttered to the deck in a dazed 

 condition. The fox (a young animal caught by the men and kept on deck) 

 soon had a dozen or more in and about his box, and the cats were running 

 them over the deck. On all sides of the ship their cries were heard. They 

 flew into the chart room, the fireroom, and down the ventilator to the main 

 deck. Even fi'om my room in the lower wardroom their cries are plainly 

 audible. 



