The Black Petrel 



Authorities. — Bonaparte (Procellaria melania), Compte Rendu, xxxviii., 1854, 

 p. 662 (orig. desc. ; "Calif.") ; Godman, Monogr. Petrels, pt. i., 1907, p. 24, pi. 6 (Santa 

 Barbara Ids.); Howell, Pac. Coast Avifauna, no. 12, 1917, p. 32 (s. Calif, ids.; nesting, 

 habits, etc.); Loomis, Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci., ser. 4, vol. ii., pt. 2, 1918, p. 174 (syst.). 



GIVEN the knowledge of its nesting site, it is comparatively easy 

 to learn something, whether by furtive methods or violent, of the behavior 

 of any species of petrel — thus, that it lays a single white egg in a burrow, 

 that it throws up an ill-smelling oil when disturbed, etc., etc. But the 

 little we have been able to learn of the behavior of petrels at sea, where 

 they spend at least two-thirds of their time, is like radium for rarity. 

 They that go down to sea in ships bring their own terrors with them, 

 insomuch that these timid little foam-flutterers are not minded to tarry 

 and see what this monstrous black object looming large upon a boundless 

 horizon will do to them. A flickering bat-like flight characterizes most 

 of them, and the absence of curiosity, such as excites many oceanic 

 species. Food is either snatched from the surface of the ocean in passing, 

 or else hastily gulped down as the bird sits uneasily upon the water. 

 Solitary birds are the rule, and they cannot ever be counted gregarious 

 upon the ocean, even though abundance of food may temporarily attract 

 many to a common center. 



And yet all these rules find exceptions, as witness the following para- 

 graph from Anthony, a high authority: 



"In August and September petrels are more common off our south- 

 western coast than during the rest of the year. The birds that have fin- 

 ished nesting congregate in regions where food is abundant, often follow- 

 ing vessels for long distances to pick up what scraps of suitable food may 

 be thrown over. I have on several occasions hooked 0. melania with a 

 small hook baited with a piece of seal blubber, but as a rule they decline 

 to be taken in by any such means. Both 0. melania and 0. socorroensis 

 will at times dive a foot or more below 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 cir- 

 cumstances." 



Mr. Anthony first encountered the Black Petrel on the 21st of April, 

 1896, on the Coronado Islands, which are still the northernmost known 

 breeding station of the species. He describes the notes, heard in the open, 

 as Tuc-a-roo, tuc-tuc-a-roo. One bird he traced to a burrow, where it made 

 a clicking sound, but no egg rewarded his search; and he concluded that 



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