158 BULLETIN 121, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



Others are constantly coming from the burrows to join in the revel. Each, 

 as it reaches the outer air, utters its characteristic call, flops along the ground 

 a few feet, somewhat like an old felt hat before the wind, and is away, as 

 gracefully and airy as the rest. Those in the air are constantly calling and 

 from the ground under our feet come answering cries. The noise and con- 

 fusion suggests a busy street in a city. 



He (1898&) also says: 



Both 0. melania and O. socorroensis will at times dive a foot or more be- 

 low the surface for a piece of meat that is sinking if they are hungry, but 

 diving seems to be out of their usual line of business and is only resorted 

 to when food is scarce. They seem to be unable to get below the surface of 

 the water without first rising two or three feet and plunging or dropping, 

 exactly as I have seen the black-footed and short-tailed albatrosses dive under 

 similar circumstances. 



In the same paper hei speaks of the notes of the black petrel as 

 follows : 



On the first night of my sojourn I had scarcely fallen asleep, curled up on 

 a rocky shelf just above the water, when I was suddenly recalled to my senses 

 by a loud Tuc-ck-ree, tuo-tuc-Orroo within two feet of my head. The call was 

 repeated from a half dozen directions and as many bat-like forms were seen 

 flitting back and forth in the moonlight along the cliffs and hillside. One or 

 two attempts to shoot them proved utter failures, and the black forms soon 

 moved out to sea, returning at intervals of an hour or so all night. The next 

 afternoon I located one of the birds in a burrow under an immense rock, as I 

 passed on my way to camp. It several times uttered a clicking note which I 

 felt sure was that of a petrel. 



He refers to the notes as harsher than those of the Socorro petrel. 

 Mr. Howell writes to me : 



They begin visiting their nests at 8.30 p. m. and are very active until shortly 

 before dawn. Pitching in from the sea they come like big black bats rocking 

 on the breeze and uttering their loud weird call. This I am unable to describe, 

 except in that it consists of four notes. D. R. Dickey and A. van Kossem state 

 that, during the night the bird at or on the nest utters a series of notes sug- 

 gestive of the song of the wren-tit. 



Mr. Howell also says that the black petrels suffer " considerably 

 from the depredations of the duck hawks, as their dry remains on 

 the islands bear mute witness." 



DISTRIBUTION. 



Breeding range. — Known to breed only on Los Coronados Islands 

 and on San Benito Island, off the west coast of Lower California. 

 May also breed in the Tres Marias group farther south off the Mexi- 

 can coast. 



^a^ipre.— Pacific coasts of California and Mexico. North to central 

 California (Point Eeyes, Marin County). South to southern Mexico 

 (Acapulco) and to about 19° north in the Pacific Ocean. 



Egg dates.— LiOMver California: Fifty- four records, May 30 to 

 September 5 ; twenty-seven records, June 22 to July 23. 



