. Cassell's natural history. Animals; Animal behavior. NATURAL EISTURY. THE SECOND FAIHLY OF THE GAVIiE, OR SEA-BIRDS.—THE PETRELS (Procellarnda). Professor Sundevall makes a group of the Petrels, which he calls Tubhidres, on account of the tube like apei-tures to the nostrils, which are peculiar to these birds. They are true denizens of the sea, being, as a rule, found far from land, and most of the specimens which find their way into our collections are obtained by catching the birds with hook and line as they follow in the wake of a ship in search of food, or by visiting the rocky islands o
. Cassell's natural history. Animals; Animal behavior. NATURAL EISTURY. THE SECOND FAIHLY OF THE GAVIiE, OR SEA-BIRDS.—THE PETRELS (Procellarnda). Professor Sundevall makes a group of the Petrels, which he calls Tubhidres, on account of the tube like apei-tures to the nostrils, which are peculiar to these birds. They are true denizens of the sea, being, as a rule, found far from land, and most of the specimens which find their way into our collections are obtained by catching the birds with hook and line as they follow in the wake of a ship in search of food, or by visiting the rocky islands or places where the Petrels resort for the purposes of nidification, and diggmg them out of their holes. With the exception of the Fulmar and a few small species, the Petrels are nearly all inhabitants of the Southern Ocean beyond the tropics, ^^^. where they may sometimes be seen in immense nuinliprs and at a great distance from any land. They are supposed to be perfectly at home dui-ing the most violent storms, but it not unfrequently happens that they are driven on land by .stress of weather, and are often picked up dead or dying not only on the sea-shore, but even some distance inland. The Stormy Petrel {Oceanitis pelagica) breeds in many places off the western coast of England, from the Scilly Islands up to the Hebrides, and it also nests on rocky islands off the north-western coast of Ireland. Wilson's Petrel (0. oceanica) is also found occasionally on British shores, but it is to the south that the naturalist must go to stud)' the Petrels in their full pi'ofiision. The famOy may be divided into three sections, the Diving Petrels (Pdecanoicks), which have short wings and no hind toe; the True Petrels, with long wings and a hind toe always present, birds of sustained flight who swim and dive very little ; and the Albatrosses (Diomedea), the largest of all the family. The Rev. A. E. Eaton gives a good account of the habits of the Diving Petrel (FeleccDioides urinairix), wh
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjecta, booksubjectanimals
