252 Order XVII 



very local in England, as it requires low rocky islands 

 or at least wild rocky shores on which to breed. In 

 fact, what are called in north and in west Britain 

 " holms," that is, low flat islets covered with short 

 grass, sea-pink and scattered boulders, are the true home 

 of the bird with us. There it makes its nest, if any, of a 

 little dry herbage in a burrow and lays its large roundish 

 white egg with faint ruddy spots. Crevices among 

 rocks and stones often take the place of a burrow, 

 while the egg is seldom laid before June. Abroad the 

 Storm-petrel breeds in the Fseroes, Brittany (and the 

 Channel Islands), the Mediterranean, and perhaps 

 Scandinavia, but these limits must not be considered 

 absolutely certain, as the bird may be confounded with 

 other allied species. The food consists of small fishes 

 and other sea creatures, with scraps obtained from 

 passing ships ; the note, seldom heard except in the 

 burrow, is a sort of chirp constantly repeated. Petrels 

 can with difficulty rise from the ground and at first fly 

 feebly. 



Leach's or the Fork-tailed Petrel (Oceanodroma 

 leucorrhoa) has been proved, since 1847, to breed on 

 St Kilda, North Rona, and other Hebridean Isles, as 

 well as off the west of Ireland ; its habits are identical 

 with those of the last species, but the egg is a little 

 larger. In colour the bird is slightly more grey, but the 

 real distinction lies in the tail, which is deeply forked. 

 We will not attempt to define its foreign range, but it is 

 common on both the Atlantic and Pacific sides of North 

 America down to the Bay of Fundy and California. 



