36 OCEAN BIRDS. 



mandibles, brown ; legs, feet, and membranes, yellowish flesh-colour. Total length, fifteen 

 inches ; bill, one inch and three-quarters ; wing, twelve inches ; tail, two inches ; middle toe 

 and nail, two inches and a quarter." 



In Cassell's ' Natural History ' the Petrels are divided into three classes : — The Albatross 

 {Diomedea), the largest of all the family ; the true Petrels, with long wings and a hind toe 

 always present, birds of sustained flight who swim and dive very little ; and the Diving 

 Petrels (Pelecanoides), which have short wings and no hind toe. We have already dealt with 

 "the first two of these classes, and of the third class there is only one species met with on an 

 Australian voyage, whose great habitat is Kerguelen Island. In the collection of H.M.S. 

 * Challenger ' P. tjarnoti is considered a separate species, but in any case they so resemble 

 one another that the following description will suffice : — 



Diving Petrel {Pelecanoides urinatrix). — I first fell in with these wonderful little divers 



■off the Cape of Good Hope, when on board a homeward-bounder. We were cutting the corner 



extra fine, or should not have sighted them, as they never go far from shore. Their 



peculiar cry was very noticeable. In Cassell's 'Natural History,' vol. ii., p. 208, the Eev. A. E. 



Eaton gives the following account of them in Kerguelen Island : — " This bird, as Prof. Wy villa 



Thompson well observes, has a close general likeness to the Little Auk or Eotche (Mergulus alle) 



of the Northern Seas. Both of them have a hurried flight ; both of them, while flying, dive 



into the sea without any interruption in the action of their wings, and also emerge from beneath 



the surface flying ; and they both of them swim with the tail rather deep in the water. But 



this resemblance does not extend to other particulars of their habits. They had begun to pair 



when we reached Kerguelen Island. The first egg was found on the 31st of October. Their 



burrows are about as small in diameter as the holes of Bank Martins (Cotijle riparia) or 



Kingfishers {Alcedo hispida) ; they are made in dry banks and slopes where the ground is easily 



penetrable, and terminate in an enlarged chamber, on whose floor the egg is deposited. There 



is no specially-constructed nest. Before the egg is laid both of the parents may be found in 



the nest-chamber, and very often be heard moaning in the daytime ; but when the females 



hegin to sit their call is seldom heard, excepting at night, when the male in his flight to and 



from the hole and his mate on her nest make a considerable noise. The call resembles 



the syllable "oo," pronounced with the mouth closed, while a chromatic scale is being 



made from E to C in the tenor. This kind of Petrel has much difficulty in taking 



flight from ground which is comparatively level ; it is only by running against the wind or by 



starting from a lump of Azorella that the birds are able to rise upon the wing if they happen 



to alight upon a flat. During my walks on calm nights I used frequently to hear them 



