TU BINARES. PRO CELL A B ill) Ai.
B u lw e r ia colombina (Moquin-Tandon*).
BULWEE’S PETKEL.
Thalassidroma Bulwerii.
B ulweria, Bonapartef .—Bill about as long as tlie head, stout at the base,
compressed, rising at the unguis, which is large ; nostrils tubular, dorsal, rather
short. Wings long, pointed, the first quill slightly the longest. Tail long and
cuneate. Legs slender, the tibia bare for a short distance above the joint; tarsi
reticulated ; hind toe minute, elevated; feet fully webbed, the inner toe shorter
than the middle and outer ones, which are about equal; claws curved.
T h e occurrence of Bulwer’s Petrel in England was made
known by tlie late Mr. Gould, who, in Pt. xxii. of his ‘Birds
of Europe ’ (1837), figured a specimen obtained in this
country, with the following observations :—
“ On the authority of Colonel Dalton, of Slenningford,
near Eipon, 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
* Puffinus columbinus, A. Moquin-Tandon, Orn. Canar. p. 44 (1841).
t Cat. metod. Ucc. Eur. p. 81 (1842). The affinities of the genus Bulweria
are with JiUrelata, but the Editor has followed the order of sequence in former
Editions.
the 8th of May, 1837 ; and which could not have been long
dead, as it admitted of being mounted as a good cabinet
specimen. It is now in the possession of Colonel Dalton,
who doubtless regards it as one of the greatest treasures in
British Ornithology.” In the ‘ Birds of Great Britain,’
however, Mr. Gould does not figure it, and in the Introduction
he merely says, “ This bird, which inhabits
Madeira, sometimes visits our seas, and by Yarrell and
others has been included in our avifauna.” The figure of
the bird here given is taken from Mr. Gould’s plate, and
represents, therefore, the only authenticated British example
of this species at present known.*
The home of Bulwer’s Petrel appears to be the Atlantic
Ocean, especially the vicinity of the Canaries and Madeira.
The first published account of it is given by Jardine and Selby
(111. Orn. ii. pi. 65), who conferred on it the name of Pro-
cellaria bulweri, after Mr. Bulwer, for some time a resident
in Madeira, to whom they were indebted for the specimen
they described and figured. In 1841, we find it stated by
Webb, Berthelot, and Moquin-Tandon, in the ‘ Ornithologie
Canarienne,’ that this species is very common on the small
island of Alegranza, where it breeds in holes in the rocks,
and is known by the name of ‘ perrito,’ or ‘little dog,’
from its cry. About the year 1850 Dr. Frere obtained a
considerable number of birds and eggs from the Desertas,
near Madeira; Mr. Hurrell, in 1851, also took a good many
there; and Mr. F. D. Godman gives (Ibis, 1872, p. 162)
the following account of his later visit to those rocky uninhabited
islands in 1871 :—
“ We found plenty of Bulwer’s Petrels sitting on their
eggs, which were in holes or under rocks, and usually
about as far in as one could reach with one’s arm. They
build no nest, but lay their eggs on the bare rock. I did
* There is a report of a second occurrence which can hardly be considered
satisfactory. Mr. E. T. Higgins, writing from Penrith on the 29th of July,
1849, says, “ By a letter received from Mr. Graham, the talented bird-stuffer of
York, I hear that a specimen of that exceedingly rare bird, Bulwer’s Petrel
(Thalassidroma Bulwerii), was obtained at Scarborough during the spring
Zool. p. 2569).