AMONG THE WaTER-FowL 
bs) 
“‘square”’ tail and yellow webs. ‘They are hard 
to distinguish at any distance, and thus one might 
overlook the rarer, though very similar, Stormy or 
Least Petrel, which I have never certainly identified. 
Leach’s Petrel breeds from the coast of Maine 
northward, while the other goes with the Shear- 
waters to the mysterious far south. During sum- 
mer, when our northern Petrel is breeding, it is 
usually the southerner that we meet off our coasts. 
All that I have identified off Cape Cod at that sea- 
son were of the latter kind. In the autumn we find 
both kinds intermingled. As for winter, it has 
never been my fortune ‘to meet any Petrel atvthat 
season, though they may occur further off shore. 
Out of the very many trips that I have made 
into the haunts of the ocean wanderers, mostly off 
Chatham, I will cull out some of the more note- 
worthy incidents that will illustrate the habits of 
these unique and interesting birds. One that stands 
out in my memory was the second of August, away 
back in 1883, when I met for my first and only 
time a certain rare bird. As usual, I was with a 
fisherman off Chatham, well out to sea. Among 
the many Shearwaters—“< Hags”’ or “ Haglets,”’ as 
the fishermen call them—lI noticed an individual 
resembling the Greater Shearwater, but lighter in 
colour in the back, and with a large, conspicuous 
yellow bill. I had not the least idea what it was, 
and my naturalistic ardour rose to white heat. 
Fortunately there was a gun in the cabin. I made 
ready, and when, at length, the strange bird again 
flew past, I tumbled it into the water. Luffing the 
boat up to it, I laid down the gun, and was about to 
102 
