examples of this species were known; one in the Museum
at Paris, a second in the possession of Baron Laugier at
Paris, and a third in the collection of M. Baillon, of Abbeville,
which had been taken in Picardy.
This species, and the Storm Petrel next to be described,
are mostly obtained in this country during the violent
gales of wind which sometimes occur about the vernal or
autumnal equinox, but particularly the latter. Several
were procured during the stormy weather of the autumns of
1828, 1825, and 1831. So many examples have now been
obtained, that it would be useless to enumerate the localities
known. It may be sufficient to notice that it has occurred
on various occasions in all quarters of Ireland, and in almost
every maritime county of England ; sometimes under peculiar
circumstances. Mr. T. C. Heysham, of Carlisle, sent notice
in November, 1841, of a Forked-tailed Petrel that was
caught in a poke-net set for fish in the Solway F rith ; and
the Author obtained a bird that was sent alive to Leaden-
liall Market, but it was exhausted from want of food when
brought to him, and died the same evening. Some are
occasionally found in inland counties, at considerable distances
from the sea, generally picked up dead or dying
from starvation, having been driven far away from then-
usual sources of food. Mr. T. C. Eyton has recorded one
taken near Shrewsbury; another was taken in Herefordshire
; several near London ; one near Saffron Walden;
one at Bassingbourne, in Cambridgeshire ; one in Derbyshire
; one in the streets of Birmingham; and similar
instances might be multiplied. On the east coast of
England this species is of almost annual occurrence, especially,
as Mr. Cordeaux informs the Editor, after gales from
the west and north-west, from which he infers that the birds
are driven right across the country. The stormy autumn
of 1881 was unusually fatal to these ocean wanderers. Off
Cornwall they are sometimes quite as numerous in winter
as the Storm Petrel.
Along the shores of Ireland the occurrences of the
Forked-tailed Petrel have been so general as to render special
enumeration unnecessary ; but as yet it has not been found
breeding there. In Scotland the late Sir W. E. Milner
found it breeding, in 1847, on the Stack of Dun, at St.
Kilda (Zool. p. 2059); and in June, 1888, Mr. John
Swinburne found it abundant on the island of North Rona.
On the latter the principal colony visited was among some
old ruins, where the birds seemed to nest in small companies,
one large main burrow in the walls of the ruins
serving for several pairs of birds, which made smaller
burrows branching off at right angles to the main one
(Pr. R. Phys. Soc. Edinb. viii. p. 64). Capt. H. J. Elwes
says (Ibis, 1865, p. 28) that he has no doubt that it breeds
on Mingalay, where the natives distinguish it by the name
of ‘ Gobhlan-goidhe,’ or forked-tail. Mr. R. Gray says that
there is a more extensive colony in the island of Rum ; but
Mr. Swinburne states that he and other ornithologists have
searched that island unsuccessfully for it. In winter it is
frequently met with along the west coast and islands, but
on the eastern side it is of rare occurrence.
The Forked-tailed Petrel has occurred on the coast of
Norway; but, strange to say, it has only twice been obtained
on Heligoland, although storm-driven individuals
have been taken on the coasts of the German Ocean, Holland,
Belgium, France, Portugal, and even in the Mediterranean.
Mr. Vernon Harcourt states that it straggles to
Madeira. On the American side of the Atlantic, it has
been known to visit Greenland, and it is well known from
Labrador to the Bay of Fundy, straggling as far south as
Washington. Audubon, who enjoyed many opportunities
of observing these Petrels during his ornithological researches
in various parts of North America, as well as on
his various voyages across the Atlantic, says, “ The species
of this genus with which I am acquainted, all ramble over
the seas, both by night and by day, until the breeding-
season commences; then they remain in their burrows,
under rocks, or in their fissures, until towards sunset, when
they start off in search of food, returning to their mates,
or young, in the morning, and feeding them then. When