7l8 SOOTY SHEARWATER. 



gorged. The old birds roost on the shore, and are very noisy 

 during the night. The food of this species is probably of the same 

 nature as that of its congeners. 



The adult has the bill dark brown, paler at the base of the lower 

 mandible ; head, neck and back dark brown, with lighter margins to 

 the feathers of the latter ; quills and tail-feathers blackish ; under 

 parts of a rather greyer brown, each feather being paler in the centre 

 than at the edge ; legs brown on the outer side and yellowish within. 

 Average length i7"25 ; wing 1275 to i3"25 in. The young scarcely 

 differ from the adults, except in greater freshness of plumage ; 

 and this remark applies to nearly all the Petrels. On the wing this 

 bird looks very black at a distance. 



