The Leach Petrels 



genus Oceanodroma, and its representatives probably outnumber all other Oceano- 

 dromce ten to one. In a few millenniums we shall expect to see it break up into as many 

 "species" as there are island groups, or major breeding places, in its now vast domain. 



FINE PRINT is for the ornithologically elect only, and the author 

 hastens, with due apology to the neophyte, to speak of Petrels, instead of 

 OceanodromcB. But Beal's Petrel, although so recently brought to recog- 

 nition, proves to be rather the key to the whole genus, and a word about 

 its history and distribution will not be amiss. When Mr. Anthony took 

 specimens of a new petrel off Guadalupe Island in late July, 1897, he sup- 

 posed that he was encountering a new species, and, naming it Oceano- 

 droma kaedingi, he assigned its habitat as "from Socorro and Clarion 

 Islands to Southern California." 1 Mr. Loomis had found a white-rumped 

 petrel on the Farallons in the summer of 1896, but he called it leucorhoa. 

 Moreover, it was very scarce there and was not again seen until Mr. John 

 Rowley and I found it on May 30th, 191 1. Finley and Bohlman reported 

 the bird as Kaeding's Petrel from the Three Arch Rocks, off the coast of 

 Oregon, in 1905; and I found several large colonies of a similar petrel off 

 the coast of Washington the following summer. We know, now, that 

 these white-rumped petrels breed extensively on the islands off our own 

 northern coast, and from there northward to the islands of Bering Sea. 

 This prevailing type has, however, been named Beal's Petrel; and the 

 name Kaeding Petrel, formerly in use, has been restricted to a small group 

 of birds breeding off the coast of Lower California. 



Of beali as a California breeder we can only say that five specimens 

 were taken in 191 1 from the crevices of a wall which marked an old Russian 

 sealing station on the Southeast Farallon. The species was found closely 

 associated with the Coues Petrel, 0. homochroa, and two eggs were taken 

 on the 3rd of June. It did not occur elsewhere on the island, whereas 

 Coues Petrels abounded to the number of thousands. 



Because, therefore, this important species has its center of abundance 

 farther north, I may be pardoned for giving an extended account of its 

 breeding off the Washington coast. 



The most populous colony has been found upon Dhuoyuatzachtahl, 

 an islet of the group known as the Quillayute Needles. The name is a 

 Quillayutan compound meaning Rock-where-we-catch-Petrels, and has 

 been from time immemorial a breeding place of these tiny Tube-noses. 



On July 20th, 1906, three of us, in company with two expert Indian 

 surf men, set off in a canoe from La Push to visit this rock a mile offshore. 

 The sea was fairly quiet and the sky perfect, but the swells crashed and 

 roared about the base of the rocks, and landing with cameras was a diffi- 

 cult operation. Once ashore, we were obliged to scuttle between waves to 



'The Auk, Vol. XV., 1898, p. 37, Orig. desc. 



20I5 



