528 
TUBE-NOSED BIRDS. 
Dove-Petrels. 
side, that any number of them could have been caught with small hand-npts only 
large enough to contain one at a time, and many of them were thus captured by the 
crew. In stormy weather they not unfrequently come close into land. When grace¬ 
fully hovering in the air, the bird may be seen to make a sudden dart downwards to 
the water, in order to secure some floating morsel of food it has espied, and on 
such occasions will dive readily. It is also said to throw up its tail after the 
manner of a duck, and thus to fish up bits of food from slight depths. When 
caught and placed on deck, it has to run some distance with outstretched wings 
before being able to rise; and when first hauled in or handled, invariably ejects 
from its mouth or nostrils a reddish oily fluid. These petrels breed on Tristan da 
Cunha and Heard Island, and probably also on some of the Antarctic Islands; on 
Heard Island their nests are made in holes in low basaltic cliffs. 
The dove-petrels {Prion) are much smaller birds, represented by 
numerous species in the southern seas, and typically characterised by 
the great breadth of the base of their beaks. One of the best known is the 
common dove-petrel (P. desolatus), which is a small grey species with a broad 
boat-like beak, furnished with fine horny lamellae projecting inwards from each 
side. It flies like a swallow, and may be seen in flocks about a ship, or 
cruising over the sea, or attendant on a whale to pick up the droppings from its 
mouth. Hence it is termed by sealers the whale-bird. Its food, as that of all 
the petrels except the carrion ones, seems to consist of the very abundant surface 
animals of the south seas, especially of small crustaceans. It breeds on Kerguelen, 
laying its single white egg in a burrow which may be as much as a yard and a 
half in depth. The broad-billed blue petrel (P. vittatus) is another well-known 
representative of this genus. 
The storm- The tiny storm-petrel (Procellaria peiagica) — the smallest of 
Petrels. British web-footed birds—is the first representative of several genera 
of petrels, readily distinguished from all the foregoing by their diminutive pro¬ 
portions ; the length of wing not reaching 7 inches. The storm - petrels are 
characterised as a genus by their very small size, by the even or rounded tail, by 
the length of the metatarsus being approximately equal to that of the middle 
toe with its claw, and by the presence of a white patch on the rump. The 
whole length of the true storm-petrel—the “Mother Carey’s Chicken” of the 
sailors—is rather less than 6 inches; the general colour of the plumage being 
sooty black. 
This petrel is confined to the more northerly portions of the Atlantic, and 
except during the prevalence of severe storms and in the breeding-season, is but 
seldom seen in the neighbourhood of land. Essentially a child of the ocean, it is 
frequently met with far out at sea, where it will follow vessels for considerable 
distances, hovering over the surface of the water in a manner which has been 
compared to the flutterings of a large butterfly. The breeding-places of the storm- 
petrel include the Atlantic coasts of Europe, and portions of the shores of the 
Mediterranean ; but, according to Mr. Ridgway, it is not known to nest on any part 
of America. The single white egg is deposited in a burrow of considerable length; 
and in the island of Soa it is stated that the burrows of several pairs often diverge 
from a common vestibule. 
