244 BRITISH SEA BIRDS. 
distinguish a Petrel from all other species. Other 
external characters are their hooked beak, webbed 
feet, and long wings. More thana hundred species 
of \Petrels are known to science, which are dis- 
persed throughout the seas and oceans of the world. 
The young, as far as is known, are hatched covered 
with down, but they remain in the nest until capable 
of flight. These birds moult once in the year. 
None of the species are very remarkable for bright 
colouration, although, in some, the colours—brown, 
black, gray, and white—are strongly contrasted. 
Several species of Petrel wander occasionally to 
the British seas, but only four species breed within 
our area, and of these we now propose to treat. 
FULMAR PETREL. 
This Petrel, the Fudmarus glactalis of ornitholo- 
gists, is very like a small gull in appearance, and is 
one of the largest representatives of its family in 
the northern hemisphere. Although it abounds in 
various parts of the British seas, and was said by 
Darwin to be the most numerous bird in the world, 
so oceanic is it in its habits, that the wanderer by 
the shore might not catch a glimpse of a single 
example during the course of an entire year. 
Perhaps this Petrel is more frequently observed off 
our eastern coasts than anywhere else, except in 
the vicinity of its breeding place; it is often caught 
in the flight-nets on the Wash, and is said to be a 
common frequenter of the deep-sea fishing grounds 
