212 BRITISH BIRDS. WITH THEIR NESTS AND EGGS. 



on the coasts of Great Britain. The late Mr. Booth considered that this Petrel 

 was common all round the British Isles, though seldom observed except by sea- 

 faring people. " I have often noticed," he writes, " these poor little birds terribly 

 distressed by the bufferings they receive during a protracted gale, at times 

 hovering and settling among the breakers, and occasionally being carried before 

 some blinding squall, almost helpless, inland. After a storm of several days 

 duration in November, 1872, I observed scores of these birds resting on the water 

 a few miles off the coast of Norfolk, apparently thoroughly worn out, with their 

 heads buried in their feathers. On visiting one of the lightships, I learned that 

 several of the Stormy, as well as a single specimen of the Fork-tailed Petrel, had come 

 on board while the gale was at its height" (" Descriptive Catalogue of Birds, p. 199"). 

 That birds of this species should occur on lightships during the raging of winter 

 gales seems natural enough, when we remember the dazzling force of the rays 

 that stream through the surrounding darkness. Even during the summer nights, 

 the fishermen who ply their trade off the coasts of Sicily find that the bright 

 lights which they carry frequently attract Petrels to their fishing crafts. 



The Storm Petrel has no near ally in the Old World. Its nearest relative is 

 Procellaria tethys, which frequents the West coast of Central America. 



The Storm Petrel has the head and back grey-black ; the margin of the 

 greater wing-coverts greyish white ; rump and upper tail-coverts (except their black 

 tips) white ; rectrices sooty black, white at the base, the shafts black ; throat, 

 breast, belly and under tail-coverts black ; sides of the vent white. The 

 mandibles, legs and webs black ; irides dark hazel. The bird of the year is 

 fresher in colour than adults, and often retains some flakes of nestling down 

 upon the abdomen. The adult measures about 6.5 in length; wing, 4.7; 

 tarsus, 0.9. 



