OCEANODROMA FURCATA. 



" Two specimens were taken in Kotzebue Sound by the Eskimo during my residence 

 at St. Michael's, so that its range reaches to the Arctic Circle. The species was found 

 breeding on the Chica Rocks, in Akoutan Pass, near Unalaska, on June 2nd, by Mr. Dall. 

 . . . The same naturalist afterwards found the birds breeding from the pass named 

 west to the end of the chain." 



Dr. Stejneger has discovered the species nesting on Copper Island, one of the 

 Commander group. He found a small colony breeding on the precipitous rocks of 

 Tschornij Mys, between Karabelnij and Glinka, on the eastern side of Copper Island. 

 The native name is " Sturmofka " (Orn. Expl. Kamtsch., p. 98). According to 

 Taczanowski, a specimen was obtained by Dybowski on Bering Island (Tacz., Mem. 

 Acad. Petersh., XXXIX., p. 1,068, 1891). 



Mr. L. M. Turner, in his " Contributions to the Natural History of Alaska " (p. 129), 

 states that he observed many of these Petrels when travelling among the Aleutian 

 Islands ; they were, however, rarely seen near land, but were abundant out at sea. 

 The natives asserted that the species bred abundantly on the cliffs of Korovinsky 

 Volcano, on the north-east shoulder of Atkha Island, and he saw the species as far 

 west as Attu Island. 



Specimens from Sitka, collected by Barclay and Bischoff, are in the 

 British Museum, which also possesses a specimen procured by Dr. Lyall, near 

 Vancouver Island. The range of the species on the Pacific coast of North America is 

 stated in the second edition of the "A. 0. U. Check-list " to extend to Humboldt Bay, 

 California. From the Kuril Islands, the present species was recorded by Pallas (Zoogr. 

 Rosso-Asiat., II., p. 315), who states that Mr. Merck, who accompanied Billings' ex- 

 pedition, brought back many specimens from the further Kuril Islands. Von Schrenk 

 also records it from this group of islands (Eeis. Amurl., I., p. 515). Dr. Stejneger gives 

 the following note on the species : — " Snow found it breeding in various places. Seebohm 

 specifies Rashau-Island, and gives as authority for the statement the names of 

 Blakiston and Pryer, but I cannot find that they ever made it. His last reference (Ibis, 

 1884, p. 33) concerns Blakiston's specimen (No. 1819), which, according to Blakiston's 

 ' Catalogue,' was not from the Kurils at all, but from Kamtschatka." 



Every observer testifies to the singular beauty of this little Petrel in life. Mr. Nelson 

 says that its soft delicate plumage renders it one of the most elegant of the northern 

 water-fowl, and especially marked among the other Petrels. In its habits it resembles 

 Leach's Petrel. 



Eggs taken by Dr. Stejneger on Copper Island measured : — axis, 1.3-1.4 inch ; diam. 

 1.0-1.1. They were white, without any gloss, one having abundance of the minutest 

 dark spots evenly dusted over the blunt end ; in another these specks were a little 

 larger, purplish-black, and forming a circlet round the blunt end, while a few lilac spots 

 shone through from the deeper layers (Om. Expl. Kamtsch., p. 98). Mr. Dall found 

 the nests, consisting of a little dry grass and fine roots, placed at the bottom of holes in 



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