I procellariidj:. 



with a single external orifice, within which the division between the two nasal 

 openings is visible. Tarsi compressed, feet moderate ; three toes in front united 

 by membranes, hind toe rudimentary, with a conical claw. Wings rather long, 

 the first quill-feather the longest in the wing. 



The family of the Petrels or Tubinakes was in former 

 Editions associated with the La r idee, but a better knowledge 

 of their structure — due mainly to the investigations of the 

 late Professor Garrod, and the late Mr. W. A. Forbes — has 

 proved that, from an anatomical point of view, the grounds 

 for such collocation are very slight. Whereas the Gulls 

 are schizorhinal, the Petrels are holorhinal ; there are some 

 important myological distinctions ; the character of the caeca 

 is quite different ; moreover the eggs of the Petrels are white, 

 and their young are helpless : in which, and in several other 

 points, the Petrels approach the Storks, the American Vul- 

 tures, and some of the Steganopodes. The Editor is, however, 

 reluctant to change the previous arrangement more than is 

 absolutely necessary, and he, therefore, retains the Petrels in 

 their former position next to the Gulls, although the two 

 families have little in common beyond their webbed feet and 

 more or less pelagic habits.* 



The Fulmar Petrel is chiefly an autumn and winter 

 visitor to the more southern parts of England, and even then 

 the specimens obtained are chiefly birds which have been 

 driven to our coasts by tempestuous weather. Under such 

 circumstances they have been known to occur far inland, and 

 as they are incapable of rising from a flat surface, examples 

 have been captured alive. But although rare, even on the 

 east coast from Northumberland to Essex, they are by no 

 means uncommon at times on the fishing-grounds about 

 thirty miles out, and when the herring-nets are being hauled 

 the voracity of the Fulmars is so great that they arc some- 

 times taken by hand. Stragglers have also been obtained 

 along the south and west coasts as far as Devon, Cornwall, 



♦ The late Professor Garrod proposed to divide the Tubinares into two groups, 

 the Procellarikhp, and the Occanitidcc, and these opinions are confirmed by 

 Mr. Forbes, whose views are fully stated in his ' Report on the Voyage of 

 H.M.S. Challenger,' Zoology, Vol. IV. Pt. xi. ; see especially pp. 54-64. 



