73° leach's fork-tailed petrel. 



Heligoland, though storm-driven individuals have been taken on 

 the coasts of Germany, Holland, Belgium, France, Portugal, and 

 even as far up the Mediterranean as Sicily ; while the Canaries and 

 Madeira are visited. On the further side of the North Atlantic, 

 Leach's Petrel has occurred in Iceland and Greenland ; and it is 

 common in America from Labrador to the Bay of Fundy, ranging 

 southward to Virginia in winter. It is also found throughout the 

 North Pacific, breeding from California to Alaska and the Aleutian 

 Islands, as well as in the Commander and Kuril groups, nearer to 

 Asia ; and it visits Japan. So far as our present knowledge goes, 

 this species is restricted to the Northern hemisphere. No fewer 

 than twelve species of Petrels with forked tails are included by 

 Salvin in this well-defined genus ; and inasmuch as the bird which 

 the Americans call the Fork-tailed Petrel is a different species, I 

 have employed the name. Leach's Petrel, to avoid the perpetuation 

 of confusion. 



The egg— white, freckled and zoned with minute rusty spots, and 

 measuring about 1-3 by -97 in.— is laid in a burrow or hole of some 

 kind ; usually in the first half of June. Mr. John Swinburne— and 

 afterwards Mr. Harvie-Brown— found a large colony nesting in the 

 ruins of a deserted village on North Rona ; and there the latter also 

 obtained three Storm-Petrels, though these did not appear to have 

 eggs. All the Leach's Petrels proved on dissection to be females, 

 but on Grand Menan and other islands in the Bay of Fundy, where 

 this species is very abundant, investigations have indicated that the 

 male takes part in incubation. When dragged from their holes 

 the birds showed little disposition to fly, being apparently dazed by 

 the light of day, and when released, they invariably sought some 

 dark retreat. A strong musky smell pervades this bird and its 

 burrow, as in the preceding species. The food consists of small 

 molluscs, crustaceans, and any greasy substances found floating on 

 the water. The note resembles the syllables petvr-wit, peivr-tvit. 



The adult has the general plumage dark leaden-black above and 

 sooty-black below, with a shade of ash-colour on the wing-coverts 

 and the margins of the secondaries, which gives the bird a greyer 

 appearance on the wing than the Storm-Petrel ; upper tail-coverts 

 chiefly white ; tail sooty-black and considerably forked ; bill black, 

 legs and feet dusky. Length 8 in. ; wing 6 in. The nestling being 

 covered with long greyish-brown down, resembles a small long-haired 

 mouse rather than a bird, as neither the wings nor the bill are 

 visible. 



