90 SHEARWATERS A ND PETRE LS.

Washington, A. V., several records. Long Island, uncommon T. V., May and June. Cambridge, A. V., one instance, Oct.

ZVest, of a few bits of sticks and grasses in a burrow in the ground, or be- neath a rock. Egg, one, creamy white, sometimes with a wreath of minute or obscure markings at the larger end, 1-34 x 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.

“ Leaeh’s Petrels are seldom seen about their nesting site during the day, though in the evening they assemble there; and when flut- tering 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 noc- turnal, 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 oeeanicus (Kuhl). WILSON’S Pmnm. Ad.— Up- per parts, wings, and tail sooty black; under parts somewhat lighter; under tail—coverts mixed with whitish, longer upper tail-eovcrts white, shorter ones marked with sooty black; wingveoverts grayish, margined with whitish; bill and feet black, the webs of the latter mostly yellow. L., 7'00; W., 5'90; '1‘., 2'80; B., '50

Range. —Atlantic Ocean; breeds in southern seas (Kerguclen Island) and migrates northward, spending the summer off our coasts.

Washington, A. V., one record. Long Island, common from May to Sept.

Mat, 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 Patago- nia; but comparatively few are aware that during the summer We receive several visitors from the southern parts of the southern hemi- sphere. They are all included in the family Procellam‘idw, and Wil- son’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 gener- ally due to storms. For this reason, and because of its long migra- tion, it is the Petrel most frequently observed in western Atlantic waters during the summer.