Ill 



PROCELLARIIDAE 6/ 



have each been recorded once. The latter breeds on mountain- 

 tops in islands, and of its other congeners some at least do like- 

 wise, many having an extremely limited range at all seasons. 



Priqftnus cinereus, the " Night-hawk," perhaps more noisy at 

 night than even certain Shearwaters, is greyish-brown above and 

 white below ; it inhabits the southern oceans. Thalassoeca 

 antarctica, restricted to the Antarctic regions, is brown with 

 white lower parts and some white on the wing, tail, and their 

 coverts. Priocella glacialo'ides of the southern seas, which ranges 

 northwards to Washington State in the Pacific, and seems to 

 have the habits of a Fulmar, resembles that bird in its pearl- 

 grey hue, with nearly white head, neck, and under surface. 

 Majaqueus aequinoctialis of the regions south of lat. 30 S., 

 known as the " Cape Hen," is sooty-black with a white chin, M. 

 parkinsoni of New Zealand being uniform in tint. The cry is 

 a soft whistle, but the manners are in other respects as in Shear- 

 waters, except that a. conical nest is constructed in a burrow, 

 whence a curious cackling noise issues during the period of 

 incubation. 1 Pagodroma nivea, of the icy regions of the south, is 

 pure white with black bill and yellowish feet ; it remains on 

 the wing until late at night, and resembles Prion generally in its 

 ways. Bulweria bulweri, met with once in England, inhabits the 

 temperate parts of the North Atlantic and the North Pacific, and 

 breeds as near us as the Desertas ; it is almost uniform sooty- 

 brown, and has the habits of a Storm-Petrel rather than of a 

 Shearwater, being bold but wary, and rapid in flight, with a loud, 

 cheerful quadruple note. It lays its pure white eggs without any 

 nest in crevices of rocks, breeding as late as June near Madeira. 

 B. macgillivrayi, with stouter bill, is known from the Fijian waters. 



Our third group includes the true Storm-Petrels (Procellaria) 

 and their close allies the Fork-tailed Petrels (Oceanodroma), as 

 well as Halocyptena microsoma, a dark blackish bird from 

 Western America, between California and Panama. P. pelagica 

 of the Mediterranean and North Atlantic from Greenland to 

 South Africa, which breeds in Scotland, Ireland, and the West of 

 England, is sooty -black with the tail -coverts white, except at 

 the tips, and a little white on the wing -co verts. Named 

 " Mother Carey's Chicken " by sailors, who look upon it with 

 superstitious dread, it is often seen paddling along the waves in 



1 Eaton, Phil. Trans, clxviii. 1879, p. 121. 



