STORM-PETRELS. 
135 
Eggs. — White, with a few spots of pale brown. The spots 
are generally obscure, and frequently the underlying grey spots 
are most in evidence. Occasionally, when the spots are more 
distinct, they form zones round the large end of the egg. In 
some the underlying grey spots are very distinct and are 
scattered all over the surface. The eggs soon become stained 
to a buff, or reddish-buff, or chestnut colour. Axis, a'as-a'ss 
inches; diam., i'65-i’7S. 
THE PETRELS. ORDER PROCELLARIIFORMES. 
The Petrels are distinguished from the Gulls and other sea- 
birds by their tubular nostrils, whence they are often called 
Tubinares, The palate is schizognathous, the nostrils holo- 
rhinal. The anterior toes are fully webbed, and the hind-toe 
or hallux is very small, being often entirely wanting. The 
spinal feather-tract is well-defined on the neck, and the oil- 
gland is tufted. 
The young are hatched covered with down, and are fed by 
the old birds for some time in the nest. The eggs are entirely 
white, or have a zone of reddish dots round the larger end. 
They are generally placed in holes burrowed in the ground, 
often on the lofty summits of oceanic islands, while some 
species make a nest in the open. The Petrels range in size 
from the dimensions of a large Swallow to those of an 
A-lbatross, which has the widest stretch of wing of any existing 
bird. (Cf. Salvin, Cat. E. Brit. Mus. xxv. p. 341.) 
Mr. Osbert Salvin has recently published a classification and 
description of the Petrels in the asth volume of the “ Catalogue 
of Birds in the British Museum,” and he arranges them in four 
families, viz. — I. Proccllariidie, or Storm-Petrels ; II. 
PiiffiniicR, cr Shearwaters and Fulmars ; III. Pelecanoidida, 
or Diving-Petrels; and IV. Diomedeidee, or Albatrosses. 
THE STORM-PETRELS. FAMILY 
PROCELLARIIDtE. 
In this family, which contains the smallest of the Petrels, 
the nostrils are united externally above the culinen ; the 
