PELAGODROMA MARINA. 



no attempt at a nest, and breeds in rat-like holes, extending two or three feet 

 deep. On Mud Island Mr. Townsend found P. marina nesting plentifully, 

 and estimated the number of pairs at about five thousand. The old birds did 

 not arrive till after dark, when large numbers came in about ten o'clock, and even 

 later, and Mr. Townsend concluded that, after feeding their young, the parent birds 

 returned to sea again. The food consisted of a pasty matter, in which remains of 

 small shrimps were detected. 



Mr. Ogilvie-Grant found that both sexes took part in the incubation, and noticed 

 that a number of the birds had been killed, having been bitten through the nape of 

 the neck, and the eggs sucked by mice, which had penetrated the burrows in the 

 sandy ground. 



The eggs are very similar to those of other species of Storm-Petrels, being white, 

 covered at one end with minute grey and mauve spots, frequently forming a zone ; 

 there is, however, some variation both in shape and markings, and they are sometimes 

 entirely white. The specimens procured by Mr. Ogilvie-Grant measured : — Axis, 

 1.35-1.48 inch ; diam., 1.0-1.08. 



Adult male. General colour dusky-grey, with obscure dusky edgings to the 

 feathers, the scapulars and wing-coverts rather more dusky and inclining to sooty- 

 brown ; rump and upper tail-coverts paler and light ashy-grey, contrasting with the 

 back ; primary-coverts and quills black, as also the tail, which is scarcely forked, the 

 tail-feathers shaded with grey towards the base ; crown of head dark ashy-grey, slightly 

 contrasting with the dusky-grey of the back ; lores and forehead pure white, extending 

 backwards into an indistinct eyebrow, which forms a broad white streak above the ear- 

 coverts ; feathers in front of the eye and ear-coverts black ; sides of face, cheeks, throat, 

 and under-surface of body pure white, the sides of the neck dull ashy-grey like the 

 mantle ; under tail-coverts white, the longer ones ashy-grey towards the ends, the lateral 

 ones mottled with ashy-grey ; axillaries and under wing-coverts pure white, with a few 

 black feathers round the bend of the wings ; quills dusky black below, the inner webs 

 dark ashy-grey, the primaries white towards the base ; " bill black ; feet black, middle 

 of webs yellow ; iris blackish brown " (W. R. Ogilvie-Grant). 



Total length, 8.0 inches ; culmen, 0.7 ; wing, 6.8 ; tail, 2.9 ; tarsus, 1.75 ; middle 

 toe and claw, 1.4. 



Adult female. Similar to the male in colour. Total length, 8 inches ; culmen, 0.7 ; 

 wing, 6.5 ; tail, 3.15 ; tarsus, 1.8 ; middle toe and claw, 1.45. 



Nestling. Covered with sooty-brown down. The plumage of full-grown young 

 birds is like that of the adults as soon as the down is shed. The grey rump and upper 

 tail-coverts have wavy cross-fines of grey and white, with a white fringe at the end 

 of the feathers. One specimen has the lower flanks and under tail-coverts freckled 

 with greyish bars. 



Mr. Ogilvie-Grant states that the series procured by him on Great Salvage Island 



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