442 A PRACTICAL HANDBOOK OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



tipped, inner as long as 7th to 8th primaries with tips of outer webs 

 sloped off to a point. Tail graduated, outer about 40 mm. shorter 

 than central, 12 feathers, rather broad, tips rounded ; under tail- 

 coverts nearly as long as tail, upper about two -thirds as long. 

 Tarsus slender. Three toes long, slender and fully webbed, hind 

 toe minute and free. Claws small and arched. Bill and nostrils 

 much as in Pterodroma, but opening of nostrils rounder and slightly 

 more inclined upwards. 



Soft parts. — Bill black ; legs and feet very pale flesh, outer 

 toe and terminal joints of two inner ones and webs dusky-black ; 

 iris brown-black. 



Characters and allied forms. — B. b. pacifica (Japan) has been 

 described as having a heavier bill but I cannot differentiate Pacific 

 from Atlantic birds. B. macgillivrayi (Ngau, Fiji, type only speci- 

 men known) has a larger bill and dark greater wing-coverts. 

 Uniform dark coloration, size and wedge-shaped tail distinguish 

 Bulwer's from other British Petrels. 



Field -characters. — An all black or dark brown Petrel larger than 

 Leach's with long wedge-shaped tail, comparatively short legs. 

 Almost entirely nocturnal in habits. Rarely flock. Ogilvie-Grant 

 states " Note at breeding hole consists of four higher notes, and a 

 lower more prolonged note ; the whole repeated several (usually 

 three) times and uttered in a loud, cheerful strain." (P. R. Lowe.) 



Breeding-habits. — Breeds under rocks and boulders and also at 

 times in burrows. Little or no nest, egg being laid on bare ground. 

 Egg. — One only, white, without gloss. Average of 66 eggs, 42.9 X 

 31.2. Max. : 47 X 30 and 42 X 33. Min. : 39.6x30.4 and 44.6x29.6 

 mm. Breeding -season. — June and occasionally July. Incubation. — 

 No definite information. 



Food. — No definite records. 



Distribution. — England. — Six. One found dead Tanfield (Yorks.), 

 May 8, 1837 (Saunders, p. 749). One found dead near Beachy 

 Head (Sussex), Feb. 3, 1903 (N. F. Ticehurst, Bull. B.O.C., xm, 

 p. 51). Female found dead near St. Leonards (Sussex), Feb. 4, 

 1904 (W. R. Butterfield, op. c, xiv, p. 49). Male picked up near 

 Winchelsea (Sussex), Sept. 4, 1908 (C. J. Carroll, op. c, xxm, 

 p. 32 ; cf. Brit. B., n, pp. 282, 373). Male picked up Pevensey 

 (Sussex), Oct. 24, 1911 (H. W. Ford-Lindsay, Brit. B., v, p. 198). 

 Male shot near Lydd (Kent), March 16, 1914 (J. B. Nichols, op. c, 

 viii, p. 13). 



Distribution. — Abroad. — Nesting Madeira and adjacent islands, 

 Salvages, Canaries and perhaps Azores, also in N. Pacific (Laysan 

 and other islands west of Hawaiian Is.), and perhaps south of 

 Japan and China (?). Casual north to British Isles and once said 

 to have occurred in Greenland (specimen in Leiden Museum), in 

 Pacific once south to Marquesas (Tristram Coll.), and north to 

 China and Japan. 



