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NATURAL HISTORY. 



THE SECOKD FAMILY OF THE GAVI^E, OR SEA-BIRDS. THE PETRELS (Procellamdai). 

 Professor Sundevall makes a group of the Petrels, which he calls Tubinares, on account of the 

 tube-like apertures to the nostrils, which are peculiar to these birds. They are true denizens of the 

 sea, being, as a rule, found far from land, and most of the specimens which find their way into our 

 collections are obtained by catching the birds with hook and line as they follow in the wake of a 

 ship in search of food, or by visiting the rocky islands or places where the Petrels resort for the 

 purposes of nidification, and digging them out of their holes. With the exception of the Fulmar and 

 a few small species, the Petrels are nearly all inhabitants of the Southern Ocean beyond the tropics, 



where they may sometimes be seen in immense numbers and at a great distance from any land. 

 They are supposed to be perfectly at home during the most violent storms, but it not unfrequently 

 happens that they are driven on land by stress of weather, and are often picked up dead or dying not 

 only on the sea- shore, but even some distance inland. The Stormy Petrel (Oceanitis pelagica) breeds in 

 many places off the western coast of England, from the Scilly Islands up to the Hebrides, and it 

 also nests on rocky islands off the north-western coast of Ireland. Wilson's Petrel (0. oceanica) is 

 also found occasionally on British shores, but it is to the south that the naturalist must go to study 

 the Petrels in their full profusion. 



The family may be divided into three sections, the Diving Petrels (Pelecanoides), which have 

 short wings and no hind toe; the True Petrels, with long wings and a hind toe always present, birds 

 of sustained flight who swim and dive very little ; and the Albatrosses (Diomedea), the largest of all 

 the family. The Rev. A. E. Eaton gives a good account of the habits of the Diving Petrel 

 (Pelecaiwides urinatrix), which he met with in Kerguelen Island :" This bird, as Prof. Wyville 



