PROCELLARIID.E. 23 



night ; nor do I think that it ever aHghts on the rigging of ships, but spends the hours 

 of darkness either on the water or on low rocks or islands. It also less frequently 

 alights on the water or pats it with its feet ; probably on account of the shortness of 

 its legs, although it frequently allows them to hang down. In this it resembles the Storm 

 Petrel, and Wilson's Petrel has a similar habit during calm weather. I have seen all 

 the three species immerse their heads into the water to seize their food, and sometimes 

 keep it longer under than I had expected. The Forked-tailed Petrel, like the other 

 species, feeds chiefly on floating Mollusca, small fishes, Crustacea, which they pick up 

 among the floating sea-weeds, and greasy substances, which they occasionally find around 

 fishing-boats or ships out at sea. When seized in the hand it ejects an oily fluid through 

 the tubular nostrils, and sometimes disgorges a quantity of food. I could not prevail on 

 any of those which I had caught to take food." Dresser says: — "This bird, so essentially 

 a bird of the ocean, has, as may be supposed, a tolerably extensive range, being found 

 in the Atlantic from St. Kilda and the coast of Labrador, southward on the American 

 coast to Washington, and on our side to Madeira." The bird is thus described by 

 Yarrell : — "The bill is black; the irides dark brown; the head, neck, and back sooty 

 black, the back rather the darkest in colour ; wing-coverts rusty brown ; the tertials tipped 

 with white ; upper tail-coverts white ; primaries and tail-feathers black ; the tail forked, 

 the outer feathers being half an inch longer than those in the middle ; breast sooty black ; 

 behind each thigh and extending to lateral under tail-coverts an elongated patch of 

 white ; the middle under tail-coverts sooty black. The whole length of my bird, seven 

 inches and a quarter ; from the anterior bend of the wing to the end, six inches. The 

 sexes in plumage are alike." 



Bulwee's Petrel (Bulweria columbina). — On the Australian voyage this Petrel may be 

 looked for about Madeira and the adjacent western coast of Africa. Dresser says: — "The 

 present species is restricted entirely to the Atlantic Ocean, being met with chiefly on or 

 near the Canaries and Madeira." It is thus described by Yarrell : — " The bill is black ; 

 the irides nearly so ; the whole of the plumage almost sooty black, rather paler on the 

 edges of the great wing-coverts ; tail rounded ; legs and toes dark reddish brown, the 

 interdigital membranes dark brown. The whole length, from the point of the beak to the 

 end of the tail, ten inches and a half." 



White-faced Storm Petrel {Oceanodroma marina). — Thus described by Gould: — 

 " Forehead, face, line over the eye, and all the under surface pure white ; crown and 



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