I40 Allen's naturalist's librarv. 



taken in the hand it disgorged a few drops of amber-coloured 

 oil, and in none did we find any solid matter in the stomach." 



Nest. — None, or consisting only of a few blades of dead grass. 

 The eggs are laid in May and some are even found as late as 

 September, so that the Storm-Petrel probably raises two 

 broods in the year. 



Eggs. — One only."^ Dull or dirty white, without gloss, thinly 

 sprinkled with minute reddish-brown specks, and not un- 

 frequently with an obscure zone of specks near the larger end. 

 Axis, I -05-1 '2 inch; diam., o-85-o-95. 



THE FORK-TAILED PETRELS. GENUS OCEANODROMA. 



Oceanodroma^ Reichenb. Av. Syst. Nat. p. iv. (1852). 



Type, O. furcata (Gm.) 



In this genus the tail is always distinctly forked, and, further- 

 more, the tarsus is shorter and never exceeds the length of the 

 middle toe and claw. 



Twelve species of Oceanodroma are known, and the genus is 

 found all over the tropics. 



L THE FORK-TAILED STORM-PETREL. OCEANODROMA 

 LEUCORRHOA. 



Procellaria leucorrhoa^ Vieill. N. Diet. d'Hist. Nat. xxv. p. 422 



(1817) ; B. O. U. List Brit. B. p. 196 (1883). 

 Thalassidroma kachi^ Macgill. Brit. B. v. p. 451 (1852). 

 Thalassidroma leucorrhoa, Dresser, B. Eur. viii. p. 497 pi. 613 



(1874). 

 Cyniochorea leucorrhoa^ Saunders, ed. Yarrell's Brit. B. iv. 



p. 392 (1884). 

 Procellaria leachi, Seebohm, Hist. Brit. B. iii. p. 443 (18S5). 

 Oceafiodro/iia lejicorrhoa, '^^iundiQrs, Man. Brit. B. p. 725 (1889); 



Salvin, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xxv. p 348 (1896). 



[Plate CXIb.) 



Adult Male. — General colour above sooty-black, with more 

 or less of an ashy or slaty-grey shade, especially on the head ; 



* Sir Ralph Payne-Gallwey speaks of the Petrel hatching her three 

 white eggs ! (Cf. Tude, Ibis., 1891, p. 11.) 



