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Range (North Atlantic and North)
"North Atlantic and North Pacific Oceans; south on the coast of the United States to Virginia and California; breeds from Maine and the Hebrides northward on the coasts of the Atlantic" (A. O. U.). SHEARWATERS AND PETRELS.
Washington, A. V., several records. Long Island, uncommon T. V., May and June. Cambridge, A. V., one instance, Oct.
Nest, of a few bits of sticks and grasses in a burrow in the ground, or beneath a rock. Egg, one, creamy white, sometimes with a wreath of minute or obscure markings at the larger end, 1.34 × 1.00. "This is a bird of the northern hemisphere, being as common on the Pacific Ocean as on the Atlantic. Its chief breeding station on our shores is among the islands at the mouth of the Bay of Fundy; but the open ocean is the bird's true home. "Leach's Petrels are seldom seen about their nesting site during the day, though in the evening they assemble there; and when fluttering through the twilight or under the moon's guidance they have the appearance of a foraging squad of bats, though the birds' wild, plaintive notes betray their race. The Petrels are not strictly nocturnal, however, for while one of a pair sits close on the nest all day-- and this one has been generally the male, in my experience-the mate is out at sea. "When handled, these birds emit from mouth and nostrils a small quantity of oil-like fluid of a reddish color and pungent, musklike odor. The air at the nesting site is strongly impregnated with this odor, and it guides a searcher to the nest" (Chamberlain). 109. Oceanites oceanicus (Kuhl). WILSON'S PETREL. Ad.-Upper parts, wings, and tail sooty black; under parts somewhat lighter; under tail-coverts mixed with whitish, longer upper tail-coverts white, shorter ones marked with sooty black; wing-coverts grayish, margined with whitish; bill and feet black, the webs of the latter mostly yellow. L., 7.00; W., 5.90; T., 2.80; B., 50.
Range.-Atlantic Ocean; breeds in southern seas (Kerguelen Island) and migrates northward, spending the summer off our coasts. Washington, A. V., one record. Long Island, common from May to Sept. Nest, in the crevices of rocks. Egg, one, white.
It is generally known that some birds which nest in the northern parts of our continent, in the winter migrate as far south as Patagonia; but comparatively few are aware that during the summer we receive several visitors from the southern parts of the southern hemisphere. They are all included in the family Procellariidæ, and Wilson's Petrel is doubtless the most common. It breeds in the islands of the South Atlantic in February, and after the cares of the breeding season are over migrates northward to pass its winter off our coasts. At this season its home is the sea, and its occurrence on land is generally due to storms. For this reason, and because of its long migration, it is the Petrel most frequently observed in western Atlantic waters during the summer.
TROPIC BIRDS.
Under the name of "Stormy Petrel," or "Mother Carey's Chicken," they are familiar to most people who have made sea voyages. On tireless wing they follow in the track of a ship, coursing ceaselessly back and forth, now beneath the stern, now hovering over the foamflecked wake, reminding one of white-rumped Martins in their easy, graceful flight. If food be thrown overboard, they are at once attracted to it, and soon are left far behind, a little group of black, fluttering forms on the surface of the ocean. The meal disposed of, a few rapid wing-beats bring them to us, and again they resume their patient beating to and fro. The WHITE-BELLIED PETREL (110. Cymodroma grallaria) is a tropical species which has been taken once in North America-at St. Marks, Florida. The WHITE-FACED PETREL (111. Pelagodroma marina) inhabits the South Atlantic and southern seas. It is of casual occurrence off the coast of Massachusetts. It may be distinguished from any of our small Petrels by its white under parts.