PETRELS. 



527 



some 10| inches in length, and is the sole representative of its genus. 'It is more 



slenderly formed and longer-tailed than the last ; frequenting the Atlantic in the 



neighbourhood of the Canaries and Madeira, and laying in holes or under the 



shelter of rocks. 



From its superficial resemblance to a dark - coloured piereon, 

 Cape Petrel. . ^ ... 



the bird properly known as the Cape petrel (Daption capensis) is 



commonly designated in the colony the Cape pigeon. It represents a genus 



distinguished from those last mentioned by the presence of fourteen tail-feathers ; 



and further characterised by the beak being broad and depressed, except at its tip, 



CAPE PETRELS SWIMMING (J nat. size). 



where the nail is small, and occupies less than a third of the total length. The 

 nasal tubes are depressed and concave, and are separated by a considerable interval 

 from the terminal nail. In the leg, the metatarsus is shorter than the third toe, 

 although much longer than the beak. This bird is of medium size and is easily 

 recognised by the sooty head and neck, the mingled dusky and white plumage of 

 the upper-parts, and the immaculate white of that below. 



The Cape, or, as it is often called, pintado petrel, is an inhabitant of the South 

 Atlantic and South Pacific oceans, occasionally straggling northwards of the 

 Equator. In the Antarctic seas these birds are frequently met with in vast 

 numbers ; and an observer who accompanied a whaling expedition in the winter 

 of 1892-93, writes that so eager were they for any scraps thrown over the ship's 



