42 



TV BIN ARES. 



PROCELLARIIDiE. 



PROCELLARIID.E. 



Procellaria pelagica, Linnaeus.* 



THE STORM PETREL. 



Thalassidroma pelagica, 



Procellaria, Linn(Bus'\. — Bill small, robust, much shorter than the head, 

 straight to the unguis, which is decurved ; nostrils dorsal. Wings long, narrow ; 

 the second quill-feather the longest, slightly exceeding the third ; the first 

 quill shorter than the fourth. Tail of moderate length, slightly rounded. Legs 

 moderate, the tarsi anteriorly reticulate, and a little longer than the feet ; inter- 

 digital membranes emarginate ; claws rather short. 



The Storm Petrel, the smallest' web-footed British bird 

 known, has so often been the subject of notice by naturalists 

 and writers generally, and even by poets, that little of 

 novelty, consistent Avith truth, remains to be told. A year 

 seldom passes without some of these birds being obtained 

 on our shores, and it has happened occasionally that they 

 appear in large flocks. Thus Messrs. C. and J. Paget, in 

 their * Sketch of the Natural History of Yarmouth and its 

 Neighbourhood,' mention, that in November, 1824, between 



Syst. Nat. Ed. 12, i. ).. 212 (1766). 



t loc. cit. 



