90 SHEARWATERS AND PETRELS. 



Washington, A. V., several records. Long Island, uncommon T. V., May 

 and June. Cambridge, A. V., one instance, Oct. 



Nest, of a few bits of sticks and grasses in a burrow in the ground, or be- 

 neath a rock. Egg, one, creamy white, sometimes with a wreath of minute or 

 obscure markings at the larger end, 1-34 x l-O^. 



" This is a bird of the northern hemisphere, being as common on 

 the Pacific Ocean as on the Atlantic. Its chief breeding station on our 

 shores is among the islands at the mouth of the Bay of Fundy ; but 

 the open ocean is the bird's true home. 



" Leach's Petrels are seldom seen about their nesting site during 

 the day, though in the evening they assemble there ; and when flut- 

 tering through the twilight or under the moon's guidance they have 

 the appearance of a foraging squad of bats, though the birds' wild, 

 plaintive notes betray their race. The Petrels are not strictly noc- 

 turnal, however, for while one of a pair sits close on the nest all day — 

 and this one has been generally the male, in my experience — the mate 

 is out at sea. 



" When handled, these birds emit from mouth and nostrils a small 

 quantity of oil-lilve fluid of a reddish color and pungent, muslvlike 

 odor. The air at the nesting site is strongly impregnated with this 

 odor, and it guides a searcher to the nest " (Chamberlain). 



109. Oceanites oceanicus (/r^/^O- Wilson's Petrel. Ad.— \]^- 

 per parts, wings, and tail sooty black; under parts somewhat lighter; under 

 tail-coverts mixed with whitish, longer upper tail-coverts white, shorter ones 

 marked with sooty black ; wing-coverts grayish, margined with whitish ; bill 

 and feet black, the webs of the latter mostly yellow. L., 7-00 ; W., 5-90 ; T., 

 2-80 ; B., -50. 



Range. — Atlantic Ocean ; breeds in southern seas (Kerguelen Island) and 

 migrates northward, spending the summer off our coasts. 



Washington, A. V., one record. Long Island, common from May to Sept. 



Nest., in the crevices of rocks. Egg, one, white. 



It is generally known that some birds which nest in the northern 

 parts of our continent, in the winter migrate as far south as Patago- 

 nia; but comparatively few are aware that during the summer we 

 receive several visitors from the southern parts of the southern hemi- 

 sphere. They are all included in the family ProceJlariidcE, and Wil- 

 son's Petrel is doubtless the most common. It breeds in the islands 

 of the South Atlantic in February, and after the cares of the breeding 

 season are over migrates northward to pass its winter off our coasts. 

 At this season its home is the sea, and its occurrence on land is gener- 

 ally due to storms. For this reason, and because of its long migra- 

 tion, it is the Petrel most frequently observed in western Atlantic 

 waters during the summer. 



