Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIII.djvu/379

 PETEEL 365 tinuous, the same birds following vessels for many successive days; they sail along with extended wings, without flappings, and with apparently little motion ; the higher the wind and the more agitated the sea, the more abun- dant are these birds, as at such times the crus- taceans, mollusks, and other marine animals upon which they principally feed are most easily obtained. In the genus procellaria the Pintado Petrel (Procellaria Capensis), wings are long and pointed, the first quill the longest ; the tail moderate and rounded, tarsi shorter than the middle toe, toes long and fully webbed and the lateral ones margined ex- ternally, the hind toe a mere triangular claw. The giant petrel (P. gigantea, Gmel. ; genus ossifraga, Homb. and Jacq.) is about 3 ft. long and 7 ft. in alar extent, at a distance resem- bling a small albatross ; the plumage is dense, full, and elastic, and the head is wholly feath- ered ; the color above is brownish gray mot- tled with dusky white, the wings and tail dusky brown ; lower parts white ; bill, legs, and feet yellow. Common in the southern ocean, it is sometimes seen on the Pacific coast of North America as far up as Columbia river in spring and summer; it is very rapacious, attacking and tearing to pieces the smaller petrels and young gulls ; it lays its eggs on the sandy shores of the Falkland islands, where it occurs in immense numbers ; the young are fed with oily matters which the parents eject from the stomach for the purpose. Other species found on the American coast are the Pacific, slender- billed, fulmar, and tropical petrels, respectively the P. pacifica, tenuirostris, glacialis, and me- ridionalis, the first two found on the Pacific, and the last two on the Atlantic coast. (See FULMAR.) The pintado petrel, or Cape pigeon (P. Capensis, Linn. ; genus daption, Steph.), is about 15 in. long; the general color is white above, varied with brown ; the upper part of head and hind neck plumbeous black, smaller wing coverts the same, tipped with brown, the larger white margined with black; primaries I white on the inner web and black on the outer ; secondaries and tail white with dark tips ; lower parts white ; bill black. This species is abun- dant in the southern ocean, with the albatross and other petrels ; it has been seen on the coast of California. More than 20 other species are described. In the genus thalassidroma the bill is shorter and more slender and weak ; the nos- trils open by a single tubular aperture, as in the preceding genus ; the second quill is the long- est, the tail more or less forked, the legs long and slender, with an extensive bare space on the tibia, tarsi longer than the middle toe, and the hind toe a small claw. The species, about a dozen, are small, and inhabit the surface of the sea in both hemispheres, skimming lightly and irregularly over the waves, floating upon them, or running along the tops ; they follow vessels for great distances, feeding upon the greasy matters thrown overboard and upon minute marine animals; they are dark-colored, more or less marked with white, and are popu- larly called Mother Carey's chickens and some- times sea swallows. The common stormy pe- trel or Mother Carey's chicken (T. pelagica, Vig.) is about 5| in. long, with an alar extent of 13 in.; the bill and feet are black; the color is grayish black above, tinged with brown ; below sooty brown; secondary coverts mar- gined with grayish white, and quills black ; rump and upper tail coverts white with black shafts, the tail coverts broadly tipped with black. They are thought by sailors to fore- bode stormy weather, and are therefore dread- ed and scrupulously unmolested; they occur in most parts of the temperate Atlantic, and are common about the banks of Newfoundland Stormy Petrel (Thalassidroma pelagica). with the other species. They breed on rocky shores and islands in the N. Atlantic, on St. Kilda, and the Shetland islands ; in the latter they begin to lay toward the end of June, de- positing a single egg in a nest made of plants and earth, carefully concealed, sometimes at a