THE BIRDS OF LIBERIA 647 
PROCELLARITFORMES 
PROCELLARIIDAE Petrels and Shearwaters 
Hydrobates pelagicus (Linné). Storm Petrel 
Procellaria pelagica Linné, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, vol. 1, p. 131: Sweden. 
Length 6.5 inches; above blackish, with a white rump patch; below browner, with a small 
white area on the under wing-coverts, and with the axillaries tipped with white. Eastern Atlantic. 
This small petrel breeds in the eastern North Atlantic, but after the nesting 
season wanders far over the ocean. Hitherto the only record for this bird in 
Liberian waters is that of Lowe who secured one that came aboard his ship 
thirty miles north of the equator on December 19, 1910 (Bannerman, 1912). 
A second record may now be added, namely, of an adult female secured by 
Loring Whitman on November 22, 1926. The bird came aboard the ship at 
night off Cape Palmas, Liberia. 
Oceanodroma leucorhoa leucorhoa (Vieillot). Leach’s Petrel 
Procellaria leucorhoa Vieillot, Nouv. Dict. d’Hist. Nat., vol. 25, p. 422, 1817: Picardy, France. 
In general coloration resembling the preceding species, size slightly greater; the relatively 
short legs do not extend beyond the tail in flight. Northern North Atlantic and North Pacific. 
Although well known in its nesting grounds on the coastwise islands of the 
North Atlantic, the whereabouts of the species after the nesting season is very 
imperfectly made out. Of special interest therefore is the single Liberian rec- 
ord of a female captured at night on March 5, 1911, in latitude 6° 33’ north, 
longitude 12° 4’ west, which is off the coast opposite Monrovia (Bannerman, 
1912). Lowe who secured the specimen, says that its stomach contained a 
fish; both this and Wilson’s Petrel would sometimes settle on the poop of his 
vessel at night, attracted by the light on his table, and were easily caught. 
Oceanites oceanicus oceanicus (Kuhl). Wilson’s Petrel 
Procellaria oceanica Kuhl, Beitr. z. Zool., vol. 1, p. 136, 1829: South Atlantic off Rio de la Plata. 
A small species, blackish brown above, with a white rump patch; below similarly dark; the 
long legs project slightly beyond the tail in flight and their webs are yellow. 
This ocean wanderer breeds in the subantarctic islands and in the non-breed- 
ing period (the northern summer), is common in the North Atlantic, usually well 
offshore. On our voyage to Liberia, we were attended by varying numbers of 
these birds almost daily all the way from the Bay of Biscay to the Liberian coast 
in the first week of July. Again, on the return voyage in November, a few were 
seen as far as Cape Verde, but at this date most of them were perhaps on their 
way to the breeding grounds on the islands of the Southern Ocean. Single birds 
that I watched, would beat back and forth not far astern, and on reaching the 
outer edge of our wake would wheel to cross it again, almost always using their 
feet to paddle momentarily on the surface to assist in making the turn. At times 
they seemed to pick up some small object forced up from deeper levels by the 
