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Order VI. TUBINARES. 

 Family PROCELLAEinxaJ. 



Genus PEOCELLAEIA. 



Procellaria, Linnaeus, Syst. Nat. i. p. 212 (1766). 

 Hydrobates apud Boie, Isis, 1822, p. 562. 

 Thalassidroma apud Vigors, Zool. Journ. ii. p. 405 (1825). 

 Cymochorea apud Coues, Proc. Nat.-Hist. Soc. Phil. 1864, p. 76. 



The Petrels are essentially wanderers, roaming over the face of the ocean, except during the 

 breeding-season. They inhabit the ocean in most portions of the world, being found in the 

 Palsearctic, Ethiopian, Oriental, Australian, Nearctic, and Neotropical Eegions, two species being 

 found in the Western Palsearctic Eegion. They are extremely strong on the wing, and may 

 often be seen in stormy weather skimming over the surface of the water in mid ocean, patting 

 the surface of the water with their feet. They fly like the smaller Gulls, gliding with extended 

 wings, sailing along at intervals. They feed on fatty substances, small crustaceans, and minute 

 fishes, which they pick up from the surface of the water. They breed on islands close to the 

 sea, their nests being in burrows in the ground or in stone heaps, and deposit a single white 

 egg, either unmarked or else slightly dotted with red. They are to a large extent nocturnal, 

 remaining hidden during the day and sallying out when the shades of evening begin to set in. 



Procellaria pelagica, the type of the genus, has the bill shorter than the head, slender, 

 compressed, much decurved at the tip, and acute ; nostrils dorsal, submedian, opening in front 

 by two approximated tubes ; wings very long and narrow, the first quill shorter than the fourth, 

 the second longest ; tail moderate, slightly rounded ; legs slender, the tibia long and bare for a 

 considerable distance ; tarsus long, slender, anteriorly reticulate ; hind toe very diminutive ; 

 anterior toes long, slender, interdigital membrane emarginate ; claws small, curved, compressed, 

 moderately acute. 



In the article on these Petrels I have used the generic title Thalassidroma ; but I have since 

 ascertained that the proper title is Procellaria, and therefore the two species found in the 

 Western Palsearctic Eegion will stand as Procellaria pelagica and Procellaria leucorrhoa. 



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