STORM-PETRELS 393 



three demand notice here. These are the typical " Storm-Petrel " or 

 Mother Carey's chicken and Leach's forktailed-petrel. Both breed 

 with us, and closely resemble one another in their habits, and live 

 under practically identical environmental conditions. So far as the 

 records go, what may be said of one is true for each. Of the rare 

 vagrant Wilson's-petrel we have but the scantiest information, 

 for it breeds only in the far south of the Southern Hemisphere. It is 

 described in the "Rare Bird" section, but there are features in its 

 life-history which demand notice here. 



All Petrels are strictly oceanic birds, coming to land only in the 

 breeding season. This resort is one only of extremest need the pro- 

 pagation of the species. For these birds appear never to walk while 

 ashore, but to fly straight to their nesting-burrows and out again to sea. 

 Even the presence of sorrel, which has been found in the gizzard of 

 Leach's-petrel, need not contradict this rooted conviction on the part 

 of ornithologists, for this may well have been plucked from the mouth 

 of the burrow, or the bird may occasionally alight beside the plant to 

 gather the coveted morsels, which seem to be much sought after, since 

 portions of this plant are also commonly found in the gizzard of the 

 fulmar. 



The petrels of this Family stand in somewhat sharp contrast with 

 the rest of the order by reason of the long, almost swift-like wings 

 and the length of the legs. These are, perhaps, their most conspicuous 

 features. The great length of the wings is accounted for by the 

 swallow-like and long-sustained powers of flight. But the length of the 

 leg is puzzling, since all observers who have seen these birds on land 

 seem to agree that these birds are incapable of walking, or even stand- 

 ing upright, as they are commonly depicted in bird-books. It may 

 well be that some error has crept in here ; that the observations have 

 been made on birds exhausted by storms, or birds brought suddenly 

 out of their burrows and dazed by the glare of daylight. If correct, 

 then the relatively long shanks must play a more important part in 

 enabling these birds to skim the surface of the water than has so far 



