( 372) 



breed in. communities. like the Bank Swallow, making their nests 

 in the hole? and cavities of rocks above the sea, returning to feed 

 their young onh.r during the night, with the superabundant oily 

 fcod from their stomachs." — Wilson. 



Mr. Audubon also informs us that it breeds in vast numbers 

 from Maine to Ba^" : - Ba; From the nature of its food, which is 

 small fish and barnacles ; fk h. is ra kancloily, "Although un- 

 palatable, it is said that th :'"' : 3 ' Per] - T dands convert them in- 

 to domestic use, by drawing a wick lengthwise through their bodies; 

 they make their oily carcace :erve the purpose of candles." The 

 eggs of this species are aid : • thr 3 — the color white. 



The Petrel b never inla ■' i vh ■ - driven in, as it oc- 



casionally happen^ , b - • tor Shortly a f»o r the late gale, 



in August, I842 ; I r ei ■-■' ' '' !! wing from Mr. S. F. Baird, re- 

 ading at Carlisle, Cumberland Co., Pennsylvania: - 



"lou have probabl " ::\ an accoi tnt in the raapers of the Petrels 

 which had been dri • n inland b 'the?! >r n }f V gu t. They were 

 nearly all the Fork-tailsd Petrel, Thalassidi 1 na Leachii. I saw 

 about half a dozen sneer 1 tc killed near Washington. There were 

 killed in Petersburgh and Sewfort, Va and mar/ other places. 



S. F. Baird." 



TH &.LASSID : y. 1 k LE A.CHII— TEM. 

 ■ ■ ■ :tsel. 



Thalassiilrmia ■ ,r 3 >uap 



Fork-tailed Sto . ' '. t ■ • " ■}■< ■,-] Ire .11 r .eachii, Nuttall. 



Fork-tailed Pel el issidr 1a Leachii, Audubon. 



Specific Character- Bill and feet black ; from the frontlet feathers 

 to the point five ?igh is )f an inch, length of tarsi seven-eighths; 

 tail forked ; plumage dark grayish-brown ; wings and tail feathers 

 brownish-black ; smaller ving coverts and inner secondaries light 

 grayish-brown : rump and sides of the abdomen, and upper tail co- 

 verts while. Length eight incl es and three quarters, wing six. 



This, like the prcci c v , v hose general habits it resembles, is of 

 rare occurren on the chor : Long Island. "It breeds in the 

 holes and cavities of rocks overhanging the sea. Said to lay but a 

 single egg, which is white ; and nearly round." 



