no MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 



are generally those that have been driven by storms or have wandered inland. 

 Mr. C. H. Houghton, of Rowley, has a specimen that was caught in the creek 

 near the railroad station at Rowley, in the autumn. Mr. Ralph Hoffmann gave 

 me a dead bird of this species that he found at Nahant on November 5th, 1903. 

 Dr. John C. Phillips shot one at Wenham Lake on October 15th, 1904, and Mr. 

 C. E. Brown obtained one there on the same date. He also took one at 

 Ipswich Beach on October 12th, 1904. These last two are now in the collec- 

 tion of the Boston Society of Natural History. 



The only record I have of Leach's Petrel during the summer is an inter- 

 esting one. On June 21st, 1903, during a prolonged northeast storm, I was 

 watching a flock of from forty to fifty Wilson's Petrels near Ipswich Beach, 

 when my attention was attracted by five birds which belonged to the species 

 under discussion. These Leach's Petrels were distinctly larger and browner, — 

 a shabby brown, — while the Wilson's appeared nearly black. On close scrutiny 

 the diagnostic difference in the tail which was slightly forked in the Leach's 

 Petrel, was noticeable, but the larger size and browner color first struck my eye. 

 In both, the white rumps contrasting with the dark bodies are conspicuous 

 At this season and a little earlier, I have found the males sitting on the single 

 eggs in their burrows at Great Duck Island, off Mount Desert, Maine. I regret 

 that I did not have my gun at the beach on this occasion, for it would have been 

 interesting to find out whether these were the day-wandering females. 



35 [109] Oceanites oceanicus (Kuhl). 

 ■Wilson's Petrel; "Mother Gary's Chicken"; "Stormy Petrel." 



Abundant summer visitor off the coast ; June 21 to September 23. 



This bird is a summer visitor, not a summer resident, for it makes its resi- 

 dence and lays its egg in February on the islands of the South Atlantic in its 

 summer, coming north across the equator in our summer. Its life is therefore 

 one perpetual summer although spent on the stormy ocean. On July 8th, 1891, 

 a Petrel, probably of this species was killed by striking one of Thatcher's Island 

 Lights. I have never known them, like the Leach's Petrel, to be found in 

 inland ponds and rivers. 



The Wilson's Petrel is in my experience the only Petrel that is seen here 

 throughout the summer. It almost never comes close to the shore except in 

 stormy or foggy weather. Fishing for cod a few miles off the shore, one is 

 almost certain to have these birds come about the boat for the bait and 



