Priofinus cinereus, the "Night-hawk," perhaps more noisy at night than even certain Shearwaters, is greyish-brown above and white below; it inhabits the southern oceans. Thalassaeca antarctica, restricted to the Antarctic regions, is brown with white lower parts and some white on the wing, tail, and their coverts. Priocella glacialoïdes of the southern seas, which ranges northwards to Washington State in the Pacific, and seems to have the habits of a Fulmar, resembles that bird in its pearl-grey hue, with nearly white head, neck, and under surface. Majaqueus aequinoctialis of the regions south of lat. 30° S., known as the "Cape Hen," is sooty-black with a white chin, M. parkinsoni of New Zealand being uniform in tint. The cry is a soft whistle, but the manners are in other respects as in Shearwaters, except that a conical nest is constructed in a burrow, whence a curious cackling noise issues during the period of incubation.[[70]] Pagodroma nivea, of the icy regions of the south, is pure white with black bill and yellowish feet; it remains on the wing until late at night, and resembles Prion generally in its ways. Bulweria bulweri, met with once in England, inhabits the temperate parts of the North Atlantic and the North Pacific, and breeds as near us as the Desertas; it is almost uniform sooty-brown, and has the habits of a Storm-Petrel rather than of a Shearwater, being bold but wary, and rapid in flight, with a loud, cheerful quadruple note. It lays its pure white eggs without any nest in crevices of rocks, breeding as late as June near Madeira. B. macgillivrayi, with stouter bill, is known from the Fijian waters.
Our third group includes the true Storm-Petrels (Procellaria) and their close allies the Fork-tailed Petrels (Oceanodroma), as well as Halocyptena microsoma, a dark blackish bird from Western America, between California and Panama. P. pelagica of the Mediterranean and North Atlantic from Greenland to South Africa, which breeds in Scotland, Ireland, and the West of England, is sooty-black with the tail-coverts white, except at the tips, and a little white on the wing-coverts. Named Mother Carey's Chicken by sailors, who look upon it with superstitious dread, it is often seen paddling along the waves in stormy weather, thus gaining the name of "Petrel" from the Apostle Peter; while it may be heard singing among the boulders towards the end of June in Scotland, where it breeds more than a month later than the "Lyrie" or Manx Shearwater. The note is shrill and the flight somewhat butterfly-like. P. tethys, of the Galapagos and Western Central America, has entirely white tail-coverts. Oceanodroma contains ten members inhabiting the northern hemisphere, and ranging southwards to Peru and St. Helena, all being sooty-black except O. furcata, which is chiefly ashy-grey, and O. hornbyi, which is brown, with white collar, forehead, and under surface, and blacker head and wings. O. leucorrhoa (Leach's Petrel) and O. cryptoleucura possess white tail-coverts tipped with black; the former having some breeding stations in Britain at St. Kilda and a few islands on the west of Scotland and Ireland, and the latter as far north as Madeira, though it extends to St. Helena, the Galapagos, and the Sandwich Islands, and has recently occurred in England. The other species are apparently met with only in the Pacific north of Panama, while in habits the genus is not dissimilar to Procellaria.
Fig. 19.–Storm-Petrel. Procellaria pelagica. × ⅖.
Sub-fam. 4. Pelecanoïdinae.–These Diving-Petrels include Pelecanoïdes urinatrix, of the vicinity of Australia, New Zealand, Cape Horn, and the Falkland Islands, a glossy black bird with white under parts, some grey on the sides of the neck, and grey and white on the scapulars; P. exsul, of the Southern Indian Ocean, with grey throat; and P. garnoti of Western South America, which is larger and quite white below. Of the first Darwin says[[71]] that it "never leaves the quiet inland sounds. When disturbed it dives to a distance, and, on coming to the surface, with the same movement takes flight. After flying by the rapid movement of its short wings for a space in a straight line, it drops as if struck dead, and dives again." The egg is deposited in a small burrow; the note is a cackle or moan.
Fossil remains are recorded from the Pacific, Australia, and New Zealand, which are referred to the genera Puffinus, Ossifraga, and Diomedea, and probably belong to existing species; Puffinus conradii is from the American Miocene, P. cyermani from Tavolara, off Sardinia; but a much more remarkable fact is the discovery in the Suffolk Red Crag of portions of a distinct form, named Diomedea anglica by Mr. Lydekker.[[72]]
CHAPTER IV
NEORNITHES CARINATAE CONTINUED
BRIGADE I–LEGION II (PELARGOMORPHAE). ORDERS: CICONIIFORMES–ANSERIFORMES–FALCONIFORMES
Order V. CICONIIFORMES.