L E A C H ' S P E T R E L.
FORK-TA1LED PETREL. FORK-T Al I.ED STORM PETREL.
HILLOCK'S PETREL.
Ptmelhma Ltachii, Br WICK. JBNTNS. TEMMIXCK.
Thatassidrvma Lcackii, GOULD.
" Bulhckit', SELBY. EYTON.
ProctJlaria. Proa/Ai—A storm. I.cachii—Of Leach.
T H E Fork-tailed Pel rel was formerly esteemed a very rare bird,
but many have since occurred to reward habits of attention and observation.
A few have been obtained in France, Holland, and Belgium. In
America, it is common on the banks of Newfoundland and some parts
of the coasts of the north.
Several examples of this species were procured in England in the
autumns of 1833, 1825, and 1831: in the first-named of these years,
one, said to have been caught on the Essex coast, was bought in
Leadonhall Market, London. In Dorsetshire, I once obtained one
found dead near Charinouth. In Worcestershire, where one had been
found before, a specimen was shot near the city of Worcester, November
12th., 1849. In Warwickshire, one, a male, was found dead on the
estate of J. R. West, Esq., of Alscot, near Stratford-on-Avon; five
others in the same county in previous years. In Norfolk, three were
seen near Lowestoft, on the 28th. of November, 1849, and one, a male,
shot at Yarmouth a day or two after, as another had been in the
middle of October; a specimen was found on the beach near that town,
December 25th., 1823; another, a female, on Oaistor beach, near there,
on the 4th. of December in the same year; also one found dead on
a warren. In Devonshire, a Fork-tailed Petrel was picked up on the
shore near Tor Abbey, in December, 1849; one near Plymouth, in
December, 1856, of which John Gatcombe, Esq., of Wyndham Place,
has written me word; on January 4th., 1850, one was taken alive, but