STORM-PETREL 537 
situation though very different forms of cover are selected ; 
some birds resort to rock-crevices, others to disused rabbit- 
burrows, while numbers breed under masses of loose stones. 
In many instances the nest is at no great height from the 
sea-level, but in some localities it may be found several 
hundred feet high. The building-materials are scanty, 
consisting of bits of dry grass, sticks, and weeds; in some 
instances a naked hollow scraped in the soil at the end of 
«a burrow is utilised. The egg, one of which constitutes 
the clutch, is white, in many cases exhibiting a zone 
composed of fine red-brown specks near the larger end. 
Incubation commences about the middle of June and lasts 
for thirty-five days : nestlings have been taken in September 
and October. ‘The breeding-haunts smell strongly, the 
odour being derived chiefly from the oily gastric contents 
which are ejected from the mouth when the bird is pulled 
out of its hole. 
The Storm-Petrel has many breeding-sites off the British 
coasts. 
In Ireland thousands congregate on some of the islands 
off Western Kerry, including the Skelligs, Scariff, and the 
Blaskets; while the islands off the coasts of Galway, Mayo, 
Donegal, Antrim, and probably other localities, accommodate 
colonies. 
Tn Scotland it breeds in the groups of the large Western 
and Northern Isles, while recently it has been found nesting 
on the Bass Rock on the east side of Scotland (Kagle 
Clarke, Ann. Scot. Nat. Hist., 1905, pp. 55-56). 
In England a few pairs probably breed on an islet off 
Lundy Island, while there is a breeding-station also on the 
Scilly Isles. 
In Wales there are several breeding-resorts, especially 
on the small islands off the coasts of Pembrokeshire. 
Geographical distribution. — Abroad, it may be traced 
as a breeding-species from the Channel Isles southward 
along the French coast to the Mediterranean, as far east as 
Italy ; visiting the Canaries and migrating along the West 
coast of Africa, as far as Cape Town in winter. North- 
ward it breeds in the Faroes, and visits in summer, Norway, 
Iceland, South Greenland, and the east coast of Canada. 
DESCRIPTIVE CHARACTERS. 
PLUMAGE. Adult male nuptial.—General plumage sooty- 
black ; forehead, breast, and abdomen, of a somewhat 
