BRITISH BIRDS' NEHTS. 193 



PETREL STORM. 



Descrqjtio)i of Parent Bir(h. — Length about six 

 inches. Bill moderately long, hooked at the tip, 

 and black. Irides dark brown. Head, neck, back, 

 wings, and tail a uniform sooty black. Tlie outer 

 edges of some of the smaller feathers of the wings 

 and upper tail-coverts white. All the under-parts 

 are sooty brown, with exception of the sides of 

 the vent, which are wbite. Legs, toes, and webs 

 black. 



The female does not differ from the male. 



Situation and Locality. — In old Puffin and 

 rabbit-burrows, holes in cliffs, under large boulders, 

 and in holes in walls. In the Scilly Islands, 

 Lundy, at suitable places along the Welsh coast, 

 the western and northern coasts of Scotland, and the 

 islands lying off them ; round the Irish coast, but 

 neither on the east coast of England nor Scotland. 

 Our illustration represents a boulder of rock under 

 which a Stormy Petrel had its nest on Ailsa Craig 

 for several years, according to Cragsman Girvan, 

 who lives upon the rock. 



Materials. — A few blades of dry grass generally, 

 but the egg is often laid on the bare ground. 



Effci. — One. White, rough, and chalky in 

 appearance, with small, dust-like reddish-brown 

 spots in an almost indistinguishable zone round 

 the larger end. Size about 1-1 by "83 in. 



Tirne.—Km\ of May, June, July, and even as 

 late as September. 



Beviai-ls. — Eesident, but keeping to the open 

 sea, except during the breeding season, or when 

 driven ashore by violent storms. Notes, a warbling 

 chatter, sung whilst the bird is sitting on her 



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