British Birds. 
216 
found in St. Helena, and also on the Galapagos and Hawaiian Islands in the 
Pacific Ocean. It has a forked tail like Leach’s Petrel, but is black, and the 
upper tail-coverts are tipped with black, while the outer tail-feathers are white 
at the base. The habits are doubtless similar to those of the other Storm- 
Petrels, and the single egg is laid in the crevice of a rock. It is white with a 
zone of reddish spots round the larger end. 
The secondaries in this group are only ten in number, and 
the claws are flattened instead of being sharp and compressed. 
But one species has been found in British waters, viz., Wilson’s 
Petrel, Oceanitis oceanicus, which is easily recognised from the 
other small Black Petrels by the yellow webs between its toes. It 
occurs sometimes in considerable numbers off our south-western 
coasts, and its habitat extends over the greater portion of the southern seas, but it is 
not known from the American side of the Pacific Ocean. The single white egg, 
with the usual zone of reddish dots, is laid in the crevice of a rock or under 
a boulder ; it measures about an inch-and-a-quarter in length. 
THE 
FLAT- CLAWED 
STORM-PETRELS. 
Sub-family 
OCEANITIDINJE. 
The White-bellied Storm-Petrel differs in its light coloration 
THE 
WHITE-BELLIED 
STORM-PETREL. 
[Pclogodroma 
marina.) 
from the rest of the Storm-Petrels, and has the claws very broad 
and flattened. It has twice been found within our limits, once 
on the Lancashire coasts in November, and once in the island 
of Colonsay in January. It has a wide range in the tropical 
seas. Mr. Ogilvie Grant found it breeding in the Salvage 
Islands, and obtained several of the eggs, which were placed at the end of a burrow. 
No nest is made, and the single egg is white, with tiny spots of reddish or purplish- 
brown, either sprinkled all over the surface or collected in a zone round the larger 
end. The length is nearly an inch-and-a-half. 
The Shearwaters are larger birds than any of the fore- 
going species of Petrel, and differ from them in several 
well-marked osteological characters. The family consists of 
the Fulmars and Shearwaters, the former having distinct 
lamellae on the sides of the palate. One species of true 
Fulmar is found in Great Britain. 
In appearance the Fulmar very much resembles a grey Gull, 
but it can of course be easily distinguished by its tubular nostril, 
which shows that it is a Petrel. Although its grey and white 
coloration is that of a Gull, its yellow bill and bluish feet ought 
to make identification easy, in addition to the character of the nostrils noted above. 
Its nesting places in Great Britain are confined to the Shetlands and the Hebrides, 
the chief breeding place being apparently on St. Kilda. It also nests in Spitsbergen 
and the other northern islands, to Iceland, and Greenland. In its flight the Fulmar 
resembles a Gull, and it has also the Gull-like habit of following a steamer for 
THE 
SHEARWATERS. 
Family 
PUFFINIDJE. 
THE FULMAR. 
(Fulmanis 
glacialis.) 
