244 BRITISH SEA BIRDS. 



distinguish a Petrel from all other species. Other 

 external characters are their hooked beak, webbed 

 feet, and long wings. More than a hundred species 

 of Petrels are known to science, which are dis- 

 persed throughout the seas and oceans of the world. 

 The young, as far as is known, are hatched covered 

 with down, but they remain in the nest until capable 

 of flight. These birds moult once in the year. 

 None of the species are very remarkable for bright 

 colouration, although, in some, the colours brown, 

 black, gray, and white are strongly contrasted. 

 Several species of Petrel wander occasionally to 

 the British seas, but only four species breed within 

 our area, and of these we now propose to treat. 



FULMAR PETREL. 



This Petrel, the Fulmarus glacialis of ornitholo- 

 gists, is very like a small gull in appearance, and is 

 one of the largest representatives of its family in 

 the northern hemisphere. Although it abounds in 

 various parts of the British seas, and was said by 

 Darwin to be the most numerous bird in the world, 

 so oceanic is it in its habits, that the wanderer by 

 the shore might not catch a glimpse of a single 

 example during the course of an entire year. 

 Perhaps this Petrel is more frequently observed off 

 our eastern coasts than anywhere else, except in 

 the vicinity of its breeding place ; it is often caught 

 in the flight-nets on the Wash, and is said to be a 

 common frequenter of the deep-sea fishing grounds 



