PETRELS AND SHEARWATERS 



[ORDER : Procellariiformes. SUBORDER : Tubinares. FAMILY : Procellariidce] 

 PRELIMINARY CLASSIFIED NOTES 



[F. C. R. JOTJRDAIN. W. P. PYCRAFT. A. L. THOMSON] 



STORM-PETREL [Hydrobdtes peldgicus (Linnaeus); Procelldria peldgica 

 Linnaeus. Mother Carey's chicken ; martensil (Ireland) ; spencie, swallow 

 (Shetlands) ; kitty-varrey (Isle of Man). French, thalassidrome tempete ; 

 German, Heine Sturmschwalbe ; Italian, uccello delle tempeste]. 



1. Description. The storm-petrel may readily be distinguished from any 

 of its congeners on the British list by its small size and sharply truncated tail. 

 The sexes are alike, and there is no seasonal change of plumage. (PI. 173.) Length 

 6 in. [165 mm.]. The general coloration is of a sooty black, but the major coverts 

 of the wing have obscure white margins ; the outer tail feathers have white base, 

 and the upper tail-coverts are white, the longest and hindmost tipped with black ; 

 the white patch thus formed is continued downwards on each side of the base of 

 the tail for a short distance. The beak and legs are black, and the iris is dark 

 hazel-brown. The juvenile plumage differs from that of the adult only in that 

 the major coverts of the wing are narrowly edged with white, and the scapulars 

 and hindmost outer tail-coverts have obscurely defined white fringes. The downy 

 young is of a sooty ash colour, and the down is of great length, [w. p. p.] 



2. Distribution. In Great Britain this species is known to breed on some 

 of the islets off the coast of South Wales, especially Skokham and Skomer, possibly 

 also on an islet off Lundy and on the Scillies. Off the Scottish coast there are many 

 breeding-places, chiefly on the west side, and also in the Orkneys and Shetlands. 

 A pair bred on the Bass Rock in 1904. In Ireland it nests on the islets off the 

 north and west coasts, in some places in large numbers. Outside the British Isles 

 it breeds in the Faeroes, and on the Channel Isles, the Brittany coast, and in the 



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