PROCELLARIID^E PKOCELLARIA 465 



rounded, consisting of twelve feathers ; tarsus slightly longer thnrr 

 the middle toe and claw and about half the length of the femur, 

 covered in front by hexagonal scutes ; claws sharp and compressed ; 

 two caeca on the intestine ; plumage sooty-black. 



This genus contains only two species, the well-known Stormy 

 Petrel, found throughout the greater part of the Atlantic, and a 

 second species apparently confined to the neighbourhood of fhe 

 Galapagos Islands in the Pacific. 



FIG. 145. Left foot of Procellaria pelagica. 



782. Procellaria pelagica. Storm Petrel. 



Procellaria pelagica, Linn. Syst. Nat. 12th ed. i, p. 212 (1766) ; Gurney, 



in Anderssorts B. Damaral. p. 351 (1872) ; Sharpe, ed. Layard's B. 



S. Afr. p. 765 (1884) ; Salvin, Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 343 (1896) ; Shell-ey, 



B. Afr. i, p. 166 (1896). 



Thalassidroma oceanica (nee Kuhl), Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 359 (1867). 

 Thalassidroma pelagica, Dresser, B. Eur. viii, p. 497, pi. 613, fig. 2 



(1874). 



Hydrobates pelagicus, Reichenow, Voy. Afr. i, p. 34 (1900). 

 " Mother Carey's Chicken " of Sailors. 



Description. Adult. General colour sooty-black, a little paler 

 on the under surface ; upper tail-coverts white tipped with black ; 

 under tail-coverts and tail-feathers with concealed white bases, but 

 the shafts black throughout ; a small patch of whitish on the under 

 wing-coverts ; bill and legs black. 



Length about 7'5 ; wing 4-5 ; tail 2*0 ; culmen O5 ; tarsus O88 ; 

 middle toe 0-71. 



The sexes are alike, and>the young resembles the adult but is 

 of a paler brown. 



30 VOL. iv, 



