STORMY PETREL.
PROCELLARId PELÁGICA.
Tnis active liltlo sea-bird IMJ be inn (that is, if you can eatofa a glimpse of it), at one season or another,
off every portion of our const-line, round the vrlude of the Uritish Islands. It is as well to state that 1 have
hid bat few raances for making observation* on their leibiis; a visit was Mid, during the latter part ot May
1K(W, to Pura, a small, rocky, uninhabited blind off the «esl coast of Ross.shire, where they were declared to
breed by the natives resident at the fishing villages on the mainland. The holes and the sera',, bin-;* in the soil
to which they resorted were examined, though not a bird could he found, and it was cvidcut our ciploratiou
of their haunts had beeu undertaken a week or two before their arrival at their breediog-quarter*. In t'10
North Sen, whil • in company with the hcrrxg-fleets in nut nun., I have often seen a few ; ami dm iug, as vied
as litar, the gale of rTorember 1S72 they were ahnndanl off Great Yarmouth and all along the Norfolk coast.
In the Channel, and especially off the shores of Sussex, they are exceedingly numerous during spring, and may
be occasionally met with in autumn. This is all the information I can give concerning their distribution
around our islands from personal observations, and few, if any, authors on ornithological subjects appear to be
able to soy much more from their own experience.
Several writers have stated that the npp-arance or the Stormy Petrel is, as its name would denote, an
indication of had weather and gales at sea: this is certainly a mistaken idea, as, with only a gentle breath
of air, and the surface of the water almost as smooth as glass, the birds may bo attracted to the spot if
tall quantity of fish-liver is thrown overtioard. The smell of the oil that then disperses through the air
- *- " — tort, to which it is carried in tho space of a few minutes. I first heard of this
Petrel within range from a Brighton boatman, while fishing off the Black Rock, a
for the finny tribe, in the autumn of 1S70 ; as wo were busily engaged in hauling
other denizens of the deep", a single bird was detected hovering round, though
in could be picked up and brought into use. The boatman declared that at limes
tot if some fish-lirer was on board and a few small pieces (lung out. Luckily a
• o been stowed away, and some small pieii's having been dropped on the water, we
•tilt; shortly after, the bird was agaiu Hitting round, and, offering an easy chance,
icn Ibis species is gathering in the Channel, and on the whole of our coast-line, before
nirlliern breeding-station-, they are to b.> found almost every day that an attempt la
LERCA bouts.
rare anil very IISSHTSLL marked raid colnured finh, m taken Hint day, the first I ever eauglit, and no othon
iplc off BASFAMST inSeiit.mberISs:;_Ujr. firit, raptured on the -Itli oftho monlh.weinhing 2 lbs., and the stend
sin at 1J lb. Both of the™ tub vcio exhibited at the Iuttmilional Fisheries' IiLikiiitn in lowlon, in lfi:3,
I sent them, not beiug a eollcclor ollho finny tribo BTMST
all ,,,„
manner < 1 bringing tb
favourite
up the r
feediug-groun
ck-whitiug a
sheering ff before the
nny num or might be
quant ity lappeued to
auxiously awaited the
was procu red.
Duri g the spring,
making a move to thei
made to a certain their
•e-branled rorklin