Volume 40, Plate XXX / Ornithology (Birds)

Storm Petrel

Thalassidroma pelagica

An uncommon and entirely maritime petrel, dull black above with a broad white band across the rump, pale grey tips to the greater coverts, brownish black under parts, and a white patch behind each thigh, the legs, feet, and bill black. It feeds on floating molluscs, keeps company with ships for days, breeds among loose stones and rock fissures laying a single white egg, appears only at dusk, and ranges from Faroe and Iceland to Italy and South Africa.