44 PR0CELLART1DÆ.
Petrel lias numerous colonies, and there are several in the
Orkneys and the Shetlands. Mr. John Macgillivray, who
visited the Hebrides in July, 1840, says, “ The Stormy
Petrel is abundant in St. Hilda. The island of Soa is the
principal breeding-place, where, as well as in several spots
among the others of the group, it nestles among débris,
and in crevices of the rocks. The bird sits very close upon
the nest, from which it will allow itself to be taken by the
hand, vomiting, on being handled, a quantity of puie oil,
which is carefully preserved by the fowlers, and the bin!
allowed to escape. It is only at sunset and about daybreak
that I have observed the Stormy Petrel at sea, except during
gloomy weather, save once, while crossing the Minch, being
then not far from one of their breeding-places, at Dunvegan
Head, in the Isle of Skye.”
Mr. Hewitson thus notices the habits of this species at
Foula, Papa, and Oxna :—“ On the 31st of May, these
birds had not arrived on the breeding-ground, or, to use
the phrase of the fishermen, had not yet come up from the
sea. Some eggs were deposited as late as the 30th of June.
Each female lays but one, which is oval and white, measuring
one inch one line in length, by ten lines in breadth. '
At Oxna, where they breed under the stones which form the
beach, I could hear them very distinctly singing in a sort of
warbling chatter, a good deal like swallows when fluttering
above our chimney-tops, but somewhat harsher. The nests
seemed to have been made with care, of small bits of
stalks of plants and pieces of hard dry earth. During
the day the old birds remain within their holes, and,
when most other birds are gone to rest, issue forth in
great numbers, spreading themselves far over the surface of
the sea ; the fishermen then meet with them very numerously,
and, though they had not previously seen one, are
* Average measurements 1 in. by ‘9 in. There is sometimes a more or less
defined zone of rust-coloured spots. Like the Forked-tailed Petrel, these birds
frequently have one main burrow from which smaller apertures branch off ; and
they are sometimes found nesting in such close proximity as to give rise to
the impression that more than one egg is laid by the same female. The young
have been found in the nest so late as the 18th of October.
sure to be surrounded by them upon throwing pieces of
fish overboard.” Mr. Dunn found these birds plentiful on
the small islands near St. Margaret’s Hope, in Orkney, and
among the small islands lying off Scalloway, on the west
side of the mainland in Shetland ; and observes that, though
he had watched them for hours he had never seen one dive.
In Ireland a good many breeding-stations are known,
although these are probably but a small portion of those
which exist. One of the former is Rathlin Island, off Antrim ;
another is Tory Island, off Donegal, where Mr. G. C. Hynd-
man informed Thompson that he obtained upwards of a
score, and on a reward being offered to the natives for the
Forked-tailed Petrel (P. leucorrhoci), one was soon produced,
“ made to order ” on the instant, by the middle
tail-feathers being extracted, and the outer one at each side
left! Other colonies are on the islands of the coast of
Mayo, Galway, and Kerry, amongst which may be named
the Skelligs, and the Blasquets, where they are named by
the islanders £ Gourder ’ or ‘ Gourdal.’ In Smith’s £ History
of Kerry,’ printed in 1756, it is stated that these birds ££ are
almost one lump of fa t; when roasted, of a most delicious
taste, and are reckoned to exceed an ortolan, for which
reason the gentry hereabouts call them the Irish ortolan :
these birds are worthy of being transmitted a great way to
market, for ortolans, it is well known, are brought from
France to supply the markets of London” ! In autumn and
winter this species occurs all round the coast, and after
stormy weather it has frequently been picked up inland.
The Storm Petrel breeds abundantly in the Faroes, but is
apparently an unfrequent visitor to Iceland, nor has its presence
been authenticated on the coast of Norway beyond
Lofoten, in 69° N. lat. Merely a straggler into the Baltic,
it occurs throughout the North Sea and on the French
side of the Channel, and it has several breeding-haunts
off Brittany. Its range extends along the coasts of Spain
and Portugal, and up the Mediterranean, where it breeds
on many of the smaller islands, as far as the Ionian
Sea; storm-driven examples have also been obtained in