Birds of Canada. 121 



little beyond its tip ; tarsus, one and a-half 

 inches in length. Breeds on the small islands off 

 the coast of Nova Scotia. Its habits and gene- 

 ral color are similar to those of Leach's Petrel. 

 This is the bird so much dreaded by sailors as 

 the harbinger of a storm, and to which they 

 have given the name of " Mother Carey's 

 Chicken." It is met with on every part of the 

 ocean, diving or skimming over the surface of 

 the rolling waves of the most tempestuous sea. 

 Captain Sir James Clark Ross, in his "Voyage 

 to the Antarctic Regions," observes that, when 

 in lat. 47 17' S., long. 58 50' E, "we were 

 accompanied on our course by petrels of two 

 or three different kinds. These birds added a 

 degree of cheerfulness to our solitary wanderings, 

 which contrasted strongly with the dreary and 

 unvarying stillness of the tropical region, where 

 not a sea-bird is to be seen, except only in the 

 vicinity of its few scattered islets, which is the 

 more remarkable where the ocean abounds so 

 plentifully with creatures fit for their food." 



Sub-Family PuFFINUS. 

 Puffinns cincrcus. Wandering Shearwater. 



This bird frequents the sea coast of the 



maritime provinces. Upper parts, deep brown ; 



lower parts, grayish-white ; bill, yellowish-green ; 



feet, light greenish-gray ; length, twenty inches. 



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