338 M. Sundevall on the Birds of Calcutta. 



this species and Dysporus piscator settle on the ship^ and that 

 only after sunset, when the water was calm and the motion of 

 the ship steady and gentle. It is an entirely unfounded assertion 

 that sea-birds seek ships during storms and tempests, although 

 they keep on the wing at such times, as they cannot repose on 

 the water, and are consequently most conspicuous ; moreover they 

 often follow in the wake of the ship, as it affords them a smooth 

 surface. Out of thousands of petrels I never saw one attempt to 

 alight on the vessel, though they have occasionally flown close 

 past, and been cast by the violent eddy of the sail upon the deck, 

 where they were unable either to stand or to fly up again. 



Sterna stolida is in its mode of life very unlike the true Sternce 

 with forked tails. These are coast birds, which seldom or never 

 are seen far from land, fly high and unsteadily, live on fish, which 

 they catch by plunging, and scream almost incessantly. S. stolida 

 on the contrary is rarely seen near the land, but chiefly far out in 

 the wide ocean ; it flies low, steady and slow, leaps upon the water 

 when it flies up, never utters any sound, and never takes its food 

 without settling by the side of its prey upon the water. It lives 

 not on fish but on small moUusca, &c., and is very greedy of the 

 fat of animals. In a word, its mode of life is identical with that 

 of the larger petrels and albatroses ; they are strictly oceanic 

 birds. But S. stolida can stand or walk on a level surface, which 

 the others cannot, and it consequently alights on the vessel, which 

 they never do. 



106. Haladromaurinatrix}\\\. — Proc. urinatrix, Forst., Gm., Lath. 

 Certe = Puffinuria Garnoti e Chili, Lesson (Zool. it. Duperr. et 

 Traite d'Orn.) sec. indiv. e Chili in Mus. Stockh. Forte eadem ac 

 H. Berardi Temm. PI. Col. 517? 



In the southern parts of the Bay of Bengal I saw several times 

 in December and January a bird which could hardly be anything 

 else than the above-mentioned. The colour and form were clearly 

 distinguished through the telescope at less than 100 ells distance. 

 It was blackish gray, beneath and under the wings white, with 

 projecting nostrils, and was but little larger than Alca alle, L., 

 which it resembled in its exterior. Two or three were commonly 

 seen together resting on the water, from which they occasionally 

 arose and flapped with their wings like ducks. They dived re- 

 markably well and long, like Alca and Uria, and flew heavily with 

 a rapid motion of the wings for a short distance close over the 

 surface. 



Haladroma, from its projecting nostrils, has been included 

 among the Procellarice, but erroneously, for in all other respects 

 it resembles an Alca, and differs from the former in its small 

 wings and the want of a hind claw. 



