MADEIRAN FORK-TAILED PETREL 



Formerly known as Ridgway's, and now often called Harcourt's Petrel, it nests 

 on the rocky islets of Madeira, the Salvages, Azores, and Cape Verde Islands in the 

 Atlantic, while its breeding range extends as far as the Sandwich and Galapogos 

 Islands in the Pacific Ocean. Like other Petrels, it breeds underground in burrows, 

 and lays a single egg, which is, according to Mr. Ogilvie-Grant {Ibis, 1896, p. 54), 

 " white, with an indistinct zone of light red and faint purplish underlying dots 

 round the larger end." In habits this bird does not appear to differ from the other 

 Petrels. 



WILSON'S PETREL. 



Oceanites oceanicus (Kuhl). 

 Plate 79. 



Wilson's Petrel is a rare visitor to the British Islands, though it was seen in 

 some numbers near Land's End in May 1838, and about a dozen birds have since 

 been obtained. 



It breeds on Kerguelen and in other localities far southwards in the Antarctic 

 regions, and wanders northwards in the cold season, when it ranges far and wide 

 over the Atlantic, Indian, and South Pacific Oceans, visiting the Azores, Canaries, 

 the coasts of France and Spain, and also Labrador. 



The one egg, which in ground-colour is white, zoned with small reddish spots, 

 is laid in chinks and crannies under stones or among broken rocks, and was first 

 made known to naturalists by the Rev. A. E. Eaton, who found colonies of this 

 species breeding on Kerguelen. 



The food and habits of this long-legged Petrel appear to be very like those of 

 its allies. 



THE FRIGATE-PETREL. 



Pelagodroma marina (Latham). 

 Plate 79. 



This rare species has only been taken twice in the British Islands, first on 

 Walney Island, Lancashire, in November 1890, and again on the island of 

 Colonsay, Inner Hebrides, in January 1897. 



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