726 FORK-TAILED PETREL. 



States that this species reaches Madeira. On the further side 

 of the North Atlantic, it has been known to visit Iceland and 

 Greenland ; and it is common in America from Labrador to the 

 Bay of Fund}', ranging southward to Virginia in winter. It is also 

 found throughout the North Pacific, nesting from California north- 

 ward to the Aleutian Islands, as well as on the Commander and 

 Kuril groups nearer Asia ; and it visits Japan. Three other Petrels 

 with forked tails likewise inhabit the above Ocean, and belong to 

 this well-defined genus. 



The egg — white, freckled and zoned with minute rusty spots, and 

 measuring about i'3 by "97 in. — is laid in a burrow or hole of some 

 kind ; usually in the first half of June. Mr. John Swinburne — and 

 afterwards Mr. Harvie-Brown — found a large colony nesting in the 

 ruins of a deserted village on North Ronay ; and there the latter also 

 obtained three Storm-Petrels, though these did not appear to have 

 eggs. All the Fork-tailed Petrels proved on dissection to be females, 

 but on Grand Menan and other islands in the Bay of Fundy, where 

 this species is very abundant, investigations have proved that the 

 male takes part ih incubation. When dragged from their holes the 

 birds showed little disposition to fly, being apparently dazed by the 

 light of day, and when released they invariably sought for some dark 

 retreat. The food consists of small molluscs, crustaceans, and any 

 greasy substances found floating on the water. The note resembles 

 the syllables pewr-ivit^ pewr-wit. 



The adult has the general plumage dark leaden-black above and 

 sooty-black below, with a shade of ash-colour on the wing-coverts 

 and the margins of the secondaries — which gives the bird a greyer 

 appearance on the wing than the Storm-Petrel ; upper tail-coverts 

 chiefly white ; tail sooty-black and considerably forked ; bill black, 

 legs and feet dusky. Length 7*5 in. ; wing 6 in. The nestling is 

 covered with long sooty down, which makes it resemble a little 

 long-haired mouse rather than a bird, as neither wings nor bill are 

 visible. 



