TUBINAEES.— PROCELLAEIID^. 241 



Order TUBINARES. Petrels, Shearwaters, Fulmars, 



Albatrosses. 



Resemble Gulls externally, but as nearly allied to the Steganopodes as to any 

 other order. Nostrils terminating externally in tubes separate or united. Horny 

 covering of bill divided into several pieces by deep grooves. Upper mandible 

 generally much hooked at the end. Anterior toes webbed throughout. Hind 

 toe small, rudimentary or absent. Primaries eleven. Fifth secondary wanting. 

 Oil-gland tufted. Spinal feather tract well defined by lateral bare tracts on neck. 

 Schizognathous. Vomer large, broad, depressed, and pointed. Nostrils impervious. 

 Single egg in a burrow without nest, white, or with zone of reddish spots near 

 larger end. Young helpless, and clad with down till fully grown. Sexes alike 

 in colour. Food chiefly fishes, Crustacea, or insects. Swift, powerful flyers, passing 

 the greater part of their life far from land, resting on the water at times, and 

 only visiting the shore, as a rule, for breeding purposes. 



Land Birds are only at sea by accident. Coast Birds are seen at sea, but near 

 land. Ocean Birds seldom visit shore, except to breed. Land Birds explain 

 wind-currents, while difference between Coast and Oc(ean Birds is the difference 

 between signs that do and signs that do not prove proximity of land. As a rough 

 distinction, the more a bird lives on land the more he flaps his wings. The Eook 

 flaps continually. The Gull skims and flaps in about equal ratio. The Albatross 

 rarely, if ever, flaps. 



Family PEOCELLAEIID^. 



Bill unserrated, and ending in a nail. Nostrils united externally in one tube 

 above the culmen. Margin of sternum even. Second primary longest. The 

 majority of Petrels on being captured vomit a small quantity of clear oil with a 

 disagreeable smell. Tlje plumage of the Petrels is somewhat close set, and a 

 peculiar musky odour is perceptible in all of the species. The same smell attaches 

 to the eggs, and seems never to evaporate entirely. 



Subfamily Oceanitin^. 



Fourth toe as long as third. Claws usually flat. Tarsus covered in front with 

 single shield, or with transverse short scutes. Secondaries ten. Keel of sternum 

 with large fenestra. 



Genus OCEANITES. Long-lbggkd Storm Petrels. 



Of small size. Slender compressed bill. Orifice of combined nostrils single. 

 Hind toe represented by a minute claw. Second quill longest. 



It is from the Stormy Petrel {Procellaria pelagica), "Mother Carey's Chicken," 

 that the whole tribe derive their name. 



278. Oceanites oceanicus. Wilson's Storm Petrel. 

 <y 7" to 7|". Legs black. Bill black. Pale yellow patch in centre of webs. 

 Tiny spur at base of tarsus. General plumage sooty. Upper and under tail- 

 coverts white, with white bar on upper base of tail, and white spots on the flanks. 

 Southern Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, into the N. Temperate Zone. Eggs (1-3 xO-9) 



