The Petrels. 



^15 



Bulwer's Petrel. 



Wilson's Petrel. 



The Fork-tailed Petrel. 



THE FORK-TAILED 



STORM-PETREL. 



[Oceanudroma 



Urcorrhoa.) 



The distinguishing character of ' Leach's Petrel,' as this 

 species is often called, is the forked tail. It is a larger bird 

 than the Storm Petrel, and has a short tarsus, which is not 

 so long as the middle toe and claw. It breeds on the islands 

 off the west of Scotland, the outer Hebrides and St. Kilda, 

 and has been known to nest in Ireland on the Blasquet Isles, oft the coast of Kerry, 

 Its range extends thr()UL;hout the temperate seas of the Northern Hemisphere, and 

 in winter it wanders southwards. On St. Kilda Leach's Petrel makes a slight nest 

 of dry grass, and lays a single egg, which is white with a zone of minute lilac- 

 coloured dots, and measures about an inch-and-a-half in length. 



This species, which is an inhabitant of the tropical seas, 



^ * ■ has been found on one occasion in England, a single specimen 



STORM-PETREL. '' 



[Occanodruma castro.) 



having been picked up 

 dead on the beach at 

 Littlestone, in Kent, 

 in December, 1895. 

 This specimen is now 

 in the collection of 

 Mr. Hoyd Alexander. 

 The species is not 

 uncommon in Madeira 

 and the neighbouring 

 islands, and has been The WHiTE-isELLiEn Stobm-Petrel. The Madeira Storm-Petrel. 



