528 



TUBE-NOSED BIRDS. 



side, that aliy number of them could liave been caught with small hand-nets only 

 large enough to contain one at a time, and many of them were thus captured by the 

 crew. In stormy weather they not unfrequently come close into land. When grace- 

 fully hovering in the air, the bird may be seen to make a sudden dart downwards to 

 the water, in order to secure some floating morsel of food it has espied, and on 

 such occasions will dive readily. It is also said to throw up its tail after the 

 manner of a duck, and thus to fish up bits of food from slight depths. When 

 caught and placed on deck, it has to run some distance with outstretched wings 

 before being able to rise ; and when first hauled in or handled, invariably ejects 

 from its mouth or nostrils a reddish oily fluid. These petrels breed on Tristan da 

 Cunha and Heard Island, and probabh' also on some of the Antarctic Islands ; on 

 Heard Island their nests are made in holes in low basaltic cliffs. 



The dove-petrels {Prion) are much smaller birds, represented by 

 numerous species in the southern seas, and typically characterised by 

 the great breadth of the base of their beaka One of the best known is the 

 common dove-petrel (P. desolatus), which is a small gi*ey species with a broad 

 boat-like beak, furnished with fine liorny lamellae projecting inwards from each 

 side. It flies like a swallow, and may be seen in flocks about a sliip, or 

 cruising over the sea, or attendant on a whale to pick up the droppings from its 

 mouth. Hence it is termed by sealers the whale-bird. Its food, as that of all 

 the petrels except the carrion ones, seems to consist of the very abundant surface 

 animals of the south seas, especially of small cru.staceans. It breeds on Kerguelen, 

 laying its single white e^^ in a burrow which may be as much as a yard and a 

 half in depth. The broad-billed blue petrel (P. vittatus) is another well-known 

 representative of this genus. 



The storm- The tiny storm-petrel (Procellaria pelagica) — the smallest of 



Petrels. British web-footed birds — is the first representative of several genera 

 of petrels, readily distinguished from all the foregoing by their diminutive pro- 

 portions ; the length of wing not reaching 7 inches. The storm - petrels are 

 characterised as a genus by their very small size, by the even or rounded tail, by 

 the length of the metatarsus being approximately equal to that of the middle 

 toe with its claw, and by the presence of a white patch on the rump. The 

 whole length of the true storm-petrel — the "Mother Carey's Chicken" of the 

 sailors — is rather less than 6 inches ; the general colour of the plumage being 

 sooty black. 



This petrel is confined to the more northerly portions of the Atlantic, and 

 except during the prevalence of severe storms and in the breeding-season, is but 

 seldom seen in the neighbourhood of land. Essentially a child of the ocean, it is 

 frequently met with far out at sea, where it will follow vessels for considerable 

 distances, hovering over the surface of the water in a manner which has been 

 compared to the flutterings of a large butterfly. The breeding-places of the storm- 

 petrel include the Atlantic coasts of Europe, and portions of the shores of the 

 Mediterranean ; but, according to Mr. Ridgway, it is not known to nest on any part 

 of America. The single white eg^ is deposited in a burrow of considerable length ; 

 and in the island of Soa it is stated that the burrows of several pairs often diverge 

 from a common vestibule. 



