538 PEOCELLAEIID^ 



browner shade ; greater wing-coverts, thinly edged with 

 white; rump and upper tail-coverts (excepting the tips), 

 white, this colour extending to the sides of t ne vent; 

 tail-feathers, sooty-black with white bases. 



Adult female nuptial. Similar to the male plumage. 



Adult winter j male and female. Similar to the nuptial 

 plumage. 



Immature, male and female. Brownish-black, with very 

 little or no white on the tail or wing-coverts. 



BEAK. Black. 



FEET. Black. 



IRIDES. Blackish-brown. 



AVERAGE MEASUREMENTS. 



TOTAL LENGTH ... ... ... 6'5 in. 



WING ... 4-7 



BEAK 0*6 



TARSO-METATARSUS 0'9 ,, 



EGG 1-15 x '85 in. 



FORK-TAILED PETREL. Oceanodroma leucorrhoa (Vieillot). 



Coloured Figures. Gould, 'Birds of Great Britain,' vol. v, pi. 

 85 ; Dresser, ' Birds of Europe,' vol. viii, pi. 613, fig. 2 ; 

 Lilford, ' Coloured Figures,' vol. vi, pi. 54. 



This, also known as Leach's Petrel, and distinguished 

 from the preceding species by its forked tail and larger size, 

 is not uncommon in British waters after heavy gales from 

 the North and West, which sometimes blow the bird far 

 inland, and there are numerous records of examples being 

 picked up dead or in an exhausted state. 



Mr. Ussher describes how great numbers were blown 

 across Ireland during the south-westerly gales which raged 

 from the latter end of September to the middle of October, 

 1891. Specimens were then obtained in no fewer than 

 eighteen counties, namely: Kerry, Waterford, Clare, 

 Limerick, Tipperary, Dublin, Kildare, Queen's County, 

 Westmeath, Galway, Mayo, Leitrim, Cavan, Down, Antrim, 

 Londonderry, Tyrone, and Donegal. " A number were seen 

 flying about the Shannon in the neighbourhood of Limerick 



