All the birds belonging to this family are oceanic, nevertheless each species seems to confine its occupancy within certain zones or climates. They are less numerously met with in the torrid zone than in the more temperate and colder regions, and are more abundant in the southern than in the northern hemisphere. During the breeding season they resort to the coasts, but the greater part of their life is spent upon the open sea. They can scarcely be said to walk, but they swim with ease and buoyancy, still they seldom alight upon the water, passing by far the greater part of their lives upon the wing. From the deck of a ship they may be seen pertinaciously accompanying it for whole days together, sweeping constantly along with an unbroken equable pace, mounting gently over the crests of the highest waves, plunging headlong into the valleys between them, only staying their course now and then for a moment, to enable them to pick up any stray morsel thrown from the ship, or seen floating upon the water. They are less capable of diving than most other sea-birds, probably from the difficulty they must encounter in submerging their soft thick plumage. They are even more saucily obtrusive than the Albatrosses, and will fearlessly seize upon any proffered bait, even when they have seen their fellow caught with a hook and line. Their food, besides fishes, consists of any animal substances that may be found floating on the waves. Their voracity is almost insatiable; with the prospect of a feast before them, they think nothing of danger, and will even allow themselves to be knocked down with sticks, or caught with the hand. The Petrels breed in the vicinity of the sea, generally upon solitary and almost inaccessible rocks. They can hardly be said to make a nest, but lay their eggs on the bare ground, and immediately commence the work of incubation. Their eggs are broad in proportion to their length, coarse-shelled, and of a pure white, without any markings. The young when hatched are covered with grey down; they grow very slowly, but are carefully tended by their parents, who defend them by ejecting fetid oil from their crops in the face of the assailant. After the young are able to fly, the families distribute themselves over the surface of the sea. They are sociable birds, and may sometimes be seen keeping together in considerable flocks. * * * * *