PETRELS. 261 
yards. This Petrel is not seen abroad much at its 
breeding places during daylight; all day long the 
little birds skulk in their burrows, but with the 
approach of night, they begin to sally forth from 
their retreats and nests, and their fluttering forms 
may be seen flitting to and fro in the deepening 
gloom, backwards and forwards, to and from the 
sea. The Fork-tailed Petrel is not a very noisy 
bird. Those that I dragged from their nests 
uttered a few squeaking notes; but at night the 
species becomes more garrulous. But three breed- 
ing stations of this Petrel are known—one in the 
North Pacific, another in the Bay of Fundy, and 
the third within the British area. Its migrations 
are limited. 
STORMY PETREL. 
This diminutive species, the Procellarza pelagica 
of Linnzus and most modern writers, and the 
“Mother Carey’s Chicken” of mariners, is, perhaps, 
the best known of the Petrels that frequent the 
British seas. It is remarkable for being the 
smallest web-footed bird —a nearly black little 
creature, with a white patch on the upper tail 
coverts. Small as this Petrel is, it is just as 
oceanic in its haunts as its larger and more robust 
congeners. During boisterous weather, especially 
about the period of the equinoctial gales in autumn, 
Stormy Petrels are not unfrequently driven some 
distance inland; and examples of this species have 
been picked up more or less exhausted, even in the 
