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554 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 
DESCRIPTION. 
The general color of the plumage is dark sooty-brown; primaries and tail black- 
ish-brown, the latter white at the base; some of the outer secondaries and the 
secondary coverts grayish-ash, ending with grayish-white; rump, sides of the abdo- 
men and exterior lower tail coverts, white; bill black; iris dark-brown; tarsi and 
feet black, with the webs yellow except at the margin. 
This species is somewhat smaller than 7. Leachii, and more delicate in form; the 
bill is much weaker: it may readily be distinguished by the greater proportion of 
white on the under tail coverts and on the sides at the base of the tail, together with 
its much longer tarsi and yellow webs; tail nearly even. 
Length, seven and one-fourth inches; wing, six; tail, three-quarters; bill, seven- 
twelfths inch; tarsus, one and three-eighths inch. 
Hab. — Off the Atlantic coast from the Gulf of Mexico to Baffin’s Bay. 
This species is rare on our coast, and, to my knowledge, 
does not breed within the limits of New-England shores. 
Audubon says, — 
“‘ Wilson’s Petrel breeds on some small islands situated off the 
southern’extremity of Nova Scotia, called ‘Mud Islands,’ but which 
are formed of sand and light earth, scantily covered with grass. 
Thither the birds re- 
sort in great numbers 
about the beginning of 
’ June, and form bur- 
rows of the depth of 
two or two and a half 
- feet, in the bottom of 
- which is laid a single 
white egg; a few bits 
of dry grass, scarcely 
deserving the name of 
a nest, having been placed for its reception. ‘The egg measures an 
inch and a half in length by seven-eighths of an inch in breadth ; 
is almost equally rounded at both ends. . .. On wing, this 
species is more lively than the Forked-tailed, but less so than the 
common Stormy Petrel. Its notes are different from that of the 
Forked-tailed Petrel, and resemble the syllables hee-re-kee-kee. 
They are more frequently emitted at night than by day.” 
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