146 ALLEN'S NATURALIST'S LIBRARY. 



black, the greater series pale brown towards the tips ; primary- 

 coverts and quills black, browner on the inner webs, the 

 secondaries also externally brownish ; feathers of the lower 

 rump black, tipped with white ; upper tail-coverts pure white ; 

 tail black, the base of the feathers white, more extended on 

 the outer ones ; under surface of body sooty brown, darker on 

 the sides, the under tail-coverts brown with white bases ; sides 

 of vent conspicuously white, some of the feathers marked with 

 sooty-brown ; under wing-coverts sooty-brown, the inner ones 

 slightly paler ; bill black ; feet black, with the webs yellow ; 

 iris black. Total length, 7-0 inches; culmen, 0-55; wing, 

 6'i ; tail, 275 ; tarsus, 1*4. 



Adult Female. Similar to the male. Total length, 7-2 inches ; 

 wing, 6 '8. 



Characters. Wilson's Storm-Petrel may be at once distin- 

 guished from the other black-plumaged white-rumped species 

 by the yellow webs to the toes. 



Range in Great Britain. Wilson's Petrel is apparently only an 

 occasional visitor to our shores, occurring sometimes in con- 

 siderable numbers off the south-western coasts of England. 

 Thus Gould observed it off the Land's End in 1838, and stray 

 individuals have since been recorded from Wiltshire, the Isle 

 of Wight, Sussex, Yorkshire, Cumberland, and Lancashire. 

 Up to the present time it has not been noticed from Scotland, 

 and only one doubtful occurrence off the Irish coasts has been 

 recorded. 



Range outside the British Islands. The present species is 

 known principally from the southern Oceans, occurring in 

 Australian waters, and throughout the Antarctic seas, even to 

 the ice barrier of the South Polar continent. Thence it is 

 found northward in the Indian Ocean to the Mekran coast, 

 also off the shores of West Africa, visiting the Mediterranean, 

 and ranging to the British Islands in the Eastern Atlantic, 

 and to Labrador on the western side of the last-named Ocean. 



Habits. The Rev. A. E. Eaton thus describes his expe- 

 riences in Kerguelen Island, in the South Atlantic : " Having 

 ascertained their call, we were able, by listening attentively, to 

 detect the exact positions of several of these hidden birds. 



