THE FORK-TAILED PETREL 2I 3 



Family PROCELLARIID^E. Subfamily-PROCELLARUNsE. 



FORK-TAILED PETREL. 



Ocenihtdroma leucorrhoa (VlElI.L.) 



' I A HE Fork-tailed Petrels of the British list belong to a well-known genus, 

 _1_ embracing ten or eleven distinct species of Petrels. But only two of the 

 number have been obtained hitherto in the European seas, and of these one is a 

 recent addition to our insular avifauna. The single species which has long been 

 recognized as a visitor to our coasts is the blue-glossed Fork-tailed Petrel which 

 Bullock procured at St. Kilda eighty years ago. Dr. Leach purchased Bullock's 

 specimen at a time when only three other examples of this Petrel were known to 

 collectors. Hence the present species is often referred to as " Leach's Petrel." 

 Modern research has proved that this form of Petrel possesses a very wide range, 

 including the temperate portions of both the North Atlantic and Pacific oceans. 

 It generally occurs far out at sea ; but Turner met with many individuals of this 

 Petrel while travelling among the Aleutian Isles. It is taken by native seal- 

 hunters off the coast of Alaska. Stejneger did not find this Petrel, himself, on 

 the Commander Isles ; but he states that it certainly breeds upon Copper Island, 

 in company with another species of Petrel. It resorts to the Kurile Isles for 

 the purpose of reproduction. David does not record it from China, but it visits 

 the islands of Japan. It re-appears in the North Atlantic, occasionally straggling 

 to Greenland whence Helms reports a specimen obtained on the i3th of October. 

 It occurs numerously upon the coast of Labrador, and breeds upon islands in 

 Fundy Bay, Nova Scotia, thence it travels along the coast to Virginia, and, turn- 

 ing eastward, strikes upon the Bermudas, whence its ocean line travels across the 

 Atlantic to Madeira. Entering the Mediterranean, it reaches the coast of Sicily, 

 since a male bird was obtained near Syracuse in the month of July. It has 

 often been taken upon the coast of Provence in the middle of winter. It is 

 said to be of rare occurrence in the Straits of Gibraltar ; those which Favier 

 procured were all picked up dead after storms. Yet the Lisbon Museum has 

 specimens from at least three home localities, and many specimens have been 

 obtained on the open coast at Cape Mondego. This bird was originally described 

 from a French specimen ; it is believed to be commoner on the coast of Nor- 



