286 AVES NATATORES. [PROCELLARIA. 



DIMENS. Entire length five inches ten lines. 



DESCRIPT. Head, back, quills, and tail, ink-black: wing-coverts 

 brownish black; a broad transverse bar of white on the rump; some 

 of the scapulars and secondary quills tipped with white : all the under 

 parts brownish black : bill and legs black : irides brown. (Egg-) White ; 

 of a roundish-oval form: long. diam. one inch one line; trans, diam. 

 ten lines. 



A common species on some parts of the British coast, especially north- 

 wards. Very abundant in the Orkneys and Hebrides, where it breeds 

 in holes in the ground or in the clefts of rocks, laying one, sometimes 

 two eggs. Generally keeps far out at sea, though occasionally driven 

 inland by storms. Individuals under such circumstances, have been 

 met with in various parts of England. Skims the surface of the ocean, 

 feeding on the marine insects which float on the waves. When ap- 

 proached, ejects from its mouth an oily substance of a very rancid 

 smell. 



312. P. Leachii, TWm. (Leacfrs Petrel.) Black : 

 tail forked ; the wings not reaching beyond its tip : tarsus 

 eleven lines and a half. 



P. Leachii, Temm. Man. d'Orn. torn. n. p. 812. Leach's Petrel, 

 Steph. in Shaw's Gen. Zool. vol. xin. part i. p. 219. pi. 25. Fork- 

 tailed Petrel, Bew. Brit. Birds, vol. n. p. 244. Selb. Illust. vol. n. 

 p. 537. pL 103-.- f. 1. 



DIMENS. Entire length seven inches six lines. 



DESCRIPT. Head, neck, and under parts, grayish black : back and scapu- 

 lars pitch-black : quills black ; the coverts lighter, forming a bar of dusky 

 brown: upper and lateral under tail-coverts white, the shafts and tips 

 black : tail black, of twelve feathers, forked ; the depth of the fork half 

 an inch: bill and legs black. (Egg.) White; roundish-oval: long, 

 diam. one inch four lines ; trans, diam. eleven lines. 



First discovered by Mr. Bullock in St. Kilda. Since ascertained to be 

 not uncommon in that island, though rare elsewhere. Solitary indi- 

 viduals have been occasionally met with in different parts of England. 

 Breeds in the clefts of rocks, and lays one egg. Food and habits similar 

 to those of the last species. 



(26.) P. Wilsoni, Bonap. Vigors in Zool. Journ. vol. i. p. 425. 

 P. pelagica, Wils. Amer. Orn. vol. vn. p. 90. pi. 60. f. 6. 



I am informed by Mr. Yarrell that this species has been killed in the 

 British Channel, though at some distance from land. It inhabits the 

 western shores of the Atlantic, and is principally distinguished by a large 

 oblong yellow spot on the membranes of the toes. Length of the tarsus 

 nearly an inch and a half. 



