460 OCBANITID^ GAREODIA 



Brown states that it is rare in Algoa Bay and Mr. Eiokard has seen 

 it off East London. 



Habits. — Like its congeners, Wilson's Petrel flits over the waves 

 and often follows ships to pick up odds and ends flung overboard ; 

 when caught they generally disgorge a mass of oily matter, which 

 rapidly congeals. Andersson states that this Petrel is very tame, 

 and will come close up to the fishermen, when they are cleaning 

 their fish on the beach, to secure scraps. 



Wilson's Petrel is not known to breed in the northern Hemis- 

 phere. Its nesting habits were first described by the Eev. A. 

 E. Eaton {Phil. Trans., vol. 168, p. 132, 1879), who visited 

 Kerguelen Island as naturalist to the " Transit of Venus " Expedition, 

 in 1874-5, and Mr. E. Hall {Ihis, 1900, p. 19), has supplemented 

 Mr. Eaton's account with additional information. 



Wilson's Petrel breeds among the crevices of the cliffs or under 

 large boulders and stones in Kerguelen in February. The nest 

 is made of Azorella stalks, and one egg, white with a few pink 

 spots, oval in shape, and measuring 1-3 x "9 is laid ; both sexes 

 seem to incubate, changing places in very early morning, and in the 

 gloaming, and going straight out to sea on leaving the nest, so that 

 the birds are very seldom seen. 



Wilson's Petrel also seems to breed on the Antarctic Continent, 

 though the members of the Southern Cross Expedition did not 

 bring back any eggs with them. 



Genus II. GARRODIA. 



Type. 

 Garrodia, Forbes, Proc. Zool. Soc, 1881, p. 736 G. nereis. 



Eesembling Oceanites in most respects, but at once externally 

 distinguished by the transverse scutellations of the tarsus, which 

 is also somewhat longer proportionately to the middle toe ; the 

 claws are somewhat more flattened than in Oceanites but not nearly 

 so much as in Fregetta. The ambiens muscle is present and the 

 sternum is entire posteriorly. 



Only the one species here described is referred to this genus. 



