Extracts from the Minute-Book of the hmnean Society: m; 



which he states, that a fine specimen of Ardea comata 

 of Pallas, and of Gmel. Syit, Nat. i. p. 632. n. 41., 



was taken on the 20th of July last in a fisherman's 



net, whilst drying, at Ormsby in Norfolk. Within fifi\ 



yards of the spot where the African Heron {Ardea cap- 



sica, Lath.), formerly in the possession of Montagu. 



and now in the British Museum, was taken about nVe 



years ago. 

 Dr. Leach communicated an extract of a Letter, 



addressed to him by Robert Scarth, Esq., containing 

 some observations on tho oecononrj of the Procellaria 

 pelagica, or Stormy Petrel. Mi Scarth states, that in 

 passing over a tract of peat-moss, near the slime, in a 

 small uninhabited island in Orkney, one evening in the 

 month of August last, he was surprised to heir a low 



purring noise, somewhat resembling the sound of b 

 spinning-wheel in motion; and on inquiry, he was 

 informed by one of the boatmen who accompanied 

 him, that it was the noise common! \ emitted bj the 

 Alimonty (the Orkney name for tin 1 Stormy Petrel), 

 that frequented the island when hatching. 



On examining a small hole in the ground, he found 

 the bird and its nest, which was very simple, being little 

 more than a few fragments of shells laid on the bare turf. 

 It contained two round pure-white eggs, which were 

 very large in comparison with the size of the bird. 

 When he seized the bird, she squirted out of her mouth 

 an oily substance of a very rancid smell. He took her 

 home, and having put her into a cage, he offered her 

 various kinds of worms to eat : but, as far as he could 

 observe, she ate nothing till after the expiration of four 

 days, when he observed that she occasionally drew the 



feathers 



