140 LLOYD'S NATURAL HISTORY 



taken in the hand it disgorged a few drops of amber-coloured 

 oil, and in none did we find any solid matter in the stomach." 



Nest. None, or consisting only of a few blades of dead grass. 

 The eggs are laid in May and some are even found as late as 

 September, so that the Storm-Petrel probably raises two 

 broods in the year. 



Eggs. One only.* Dull or dirty white, without gloss, thinly 

 sprinkled with minute reddish-brown specks, and not un- 

 frequently with an obscure zone of specks near the larger end. 

 Axis, i '05-1 *2 inch; diam., 



THE FORK-TAILED PETRELS. GENUS OCEANODROMA. 



Oceanodroma,) Reichenb. Av. Syst. Nat. p. iv. (1852). 



Type, O. furcata (Gm.) 



In this genus the tail is always distinctly forked, and, further- 

 more, the tarsus is shorter and never exceeds the length of the 

 middle toe and claw. 



Twelve species of Oceanodroma are known, and the genus is 

 found all over the tropics. 



I. THE FORK-TAILED STORM-PETREL. OCEANODROMA 

 LEUCORRHOA. 



Procellaria teucorrhoa, Vieill. N. Diet. d'Hist. Nat. xxv. p. 422 

 (1817) ; B. O. U. List Brit. B. p. 196 (1883). 



Thalassidroma leachi, Macgill. Brit. B. v. p. 451 (1852). 



Thalassidroma leucorrhoa, Dresser, B. Eur. viii. p. 497 pi. 613 

 (1874). 



Cymochorea leucorrhoa^ Saunders, ed. Yarrell's Brit. B. iv. 

 p. 392 (1884). 



Procellaria leachi^ Seebohm, Hist. Brit. B. iii. p. 443 (1885). 



Oceanodroma leucorrhoa, Saunders, Man. Brit. B. p. 725 (1889); 

 Salvin, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xxv. p 348 (1896). 



(Plate CXIt>.) 



Adult Male. General colour above sooty-black, with more 

 or less of an ashy or slaty-grey shade, especially on the head ; 



* Sir Ralph Payne-Gallwey speaks of the Petrel hatching her three 

 white eggs ! (Cf. Turle, Ibis., 1891, p. u.) 



