> 4 ^ allen’s naturalist’s library. 
black, the greater series p.ale brown towards the tips ; primary- 
covcrts and quills black, browner on the inner webs, the 
secondaries also externally brownish ; feathers of the lower 
rump black, tipped with white ; upper tail-coverts pure white ; 
tail black, the base of the feathers white, more extended on 
the outer ones ; under surface of body sooty brown, darker on 
the sides, the under tail-coverts brown with white bases ; sides 
of vent conspicuously white, some of the feathers marked with 
sooty-brown ; under wing-coverts sooty-browm, the inner ones 
slightly paler ; bill black ; feet black, with the webs yellow ; 
iris black. Total length, yo inches; culmen, o'55 ; wing, 
6'i ; tail, 275 ; tarsus, 1-4. 
Adult Female. — Similar to the male. Total length, 7 '2 inches ; 
wing, 6 '8. 
Characters. — Wilson’s Storm-Petrel may be at once distin- 
guished from the other black-plumaged white-rumped species 
by the yellow webs to the toes. 
Eange in Great Britain. — Wilson’s Petrel is apparently only an 
occasional visitor to our shores, occurring sometimes in con- 
siderable numbers off the south-western coasts of England. 
Thus Gould observed it off the J.and’s End in 1838, and stray 
individuals have since been recorded from Wiltshire, the Isle 
of Wight, Sussex, Yorkshire, Cumberland, and Lancashire. 
Up to the present time it has not been noticed from Scotland, 
and only one doubtful occurrence off the Irish coasts has been 
recorded. 
Range outside the British Islands. — The present species is 
known principally from the southern Oceans, occurring in 
Australian waters, and throughout the Antarctic seas, even to 
the ice barrier of the South Polar continent. Thence it is 
found northward in the Indian Ocean to the Mekran coast, 
also off the shores of AV’est Africa, visiting the Mediterranean, 
and ranging to the British Islands in the Eastern Atlantic, 
and to Labrador on the western side of the last-named Ocean. 
Habits. — ’I'he Rev. A. E. Eaton thus describes his expe- 
riences in Kerguelen Island, in the South Atlantic : — “ Having 
ascertained their call, we were able, by listening attentively, to 
detect the exact positions of several of these hidden birds, 
