AN AUSTRALIAN BIRD BOOK. 
27 
36 Gray- backed Storm-Petrel, 0. (Garrodia) nereis, S. 
Oceans, A., T., N.Z. r. ocean 6.7 
Sooty; abdomen, under base tail whitish; bill, feet black; 
f., Sim. Oily substances, shellfish. 
1 37 White-breasted Storm-Petrel (White-faced), Frigate 
1 Petrel, Mother Carey's Chicken, Pelagodroma marina, 
S. Oceans, N. to Canary Is., U.S. (acc.) 
c. Mud. Is. ocean 8 
Upper brownish-gray; crown, line under eye, edge of wing, 
tail black; under, face, throat, line above eye white; 
bill, feet black; webs yellow; f., sim. Shellfish, oily 
matters. 
2 38 Black-bellied Storm-Petrel, Cymodroma {Fregetta) 
4 melanogaster, S. Oceans, to N. Atl., A., T. r. ocean 7.5 
Sooty-black; under base tail, flanks white; bill, feet black; 
f., sim. Sea-animals, oily. 
39 White-bellied Storm-Petrel, 0. grallaria, S. Oceans to 
B. of Bengal, Atl. to Cancer, Florida (acc), r. ocean 7.2 
Upper, neck, chest black; under, rump white; bill, feet 
black; f., sim. Sea-animals, oily. 
F. 28. PUFFINIDAE (29), PETRELS, Shearwaters, Fulmars, 
. Prions, 75 sp.--47(16) A., 7(0)0., 24(0)P., 30(2)E., 
22(4)Nc., 37(7)N1. 
7 40 Wedge-tailed Petrel (Shearwater), Puffinus sphenu- 
25 rusy A. seas. v.r. ocean 11. d 
Sooty-brown; wing blackish; tail black; throat ashy-gray; 
under dull ashy-brown; bill lead color; legs, feet livid 
flesh color, dusky on inner side of leg and toe. Like 
42, but tail longer; f., sim. Food as for 41. 
Ocean birds are readily divisible into four families. The first 
is made up of the 25 Storm-Petrels; the second of the 75 Petrels, 
Shearwaters, Fulmars, and Dove-Petrels; the third family com- 
prises only the three small southern Diving-Petrels; while the 
fourth contains the nineteen noble Albatrosses. 
Though Storm-Petrels and Petrels of various kinds may be 
seen in the Northern Hemisphere, yet the Southern Hemisphere, 
with its enormous expanse of water, is the headquarters of these 
birds. 
The dainty, tiny Storm-Petrels, fearlessly tripping over the 
mountain billows in times of great danger to the sailor, were con- 
sidered birds of ill-omen. Their peculiar flight possibly helped 
this idea. Gould closely studied them and other ocean birds 
during his voyages on sailing ships. He describes them as * 'flut- 
tering over the glassy surface of the ocean during calms with an 
easy butterfly-like motion of the wings, and buffeting and breast- 
ing with equal vigor the crests of the loftiest waves of the storm; 
at- one moment descending into their deep troughs, and, at the 
next, rising with the utmost alertness to their highest point, 
apparently from an impulse communicated as much by striking 
