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Thalassidroma ? Bulwerii.
Procellaria Bulwerii, Jard. $ Selby.
On the authority of Col. Dalton of Slenningford, near Ripon, we are enabled to add this rare species to the
Fauna of Britain, from a fine specimen which was found on the banks of the Ure, near Tanfield in Yorkshire,
on the 8th of May, 1837, and which could not have been long dead, as it admitted of being mounted into a
good cabinet specimen. It is now in the possession of Col. Dalton, who doubtless regards it as one of the
greatest treasures in British ornithology. In fact, with the exception of one or two foreign examples, we do
not recollect that we have observed it among the numerous collections we have had opportunities of examining.
The only recorded facts relative to its history will be found in the second volume of ‘ Illustrations of Ornithology,’
by Sir William Jardine and Mr. Selby, in which publication the bird is figured from a specimen
sent from Madeira by Mr. Bulwer, after whom it has been named. As it is stated to be an inhabitant of
Madeira and the adjacent islands, we may infer that the seas bounding the western shores of Africa constitute
its true habitat. The cuneated form of its tail and its large size will readily distinguish it from all the other
species of its genus.
We cannot conclude our account of this bird without offering our sincere thanks to Colonel Dalton for the
loan of his specimen for the purpose of illustration as well as to C. C. Oxley, Esq., of Ripon, who in this
instance and upon all other occasions has taken a kind and friendly interest in the present work.
The whole of the plumage is of a deep sooty black, becoming paler upon the throat, and brown on the
edges of the greater wing-coverts; bill black ; legs and feet blackish brown. '
Our figure is of the natural size.